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PHOTO BV EDMONSTON WASHINGTON. D C 




^^^ 



WOODROW WILSON 

AS 

PRESIDENT 



BY 



EUGENE C. BROOKS 

M 

PBOFESSOB ok Education, Trinity COLLEGE 
Durham, N. C. 




CHICAGO NEW YORK 

ROW, PETERSON AND COMPANY 






COPYBIGHT, 1916 

ROW, PETERSON 
AND COMPANY 




©CI.A437325 

/ , 



6 9 ^ 



INTRODUCTION 

The Wilson Administration marks the end of 
an era. It is divided into two historic periods 
separated by the European War, which draws a 
heavy curtain between the first and the second half 
of his Administration. Moreover, each has been 
so crowded with events of vital importance to 
this nation as to assume the significance of a 
turning point in history. Therefore, the student 
of history will find in this period the beginnings 
of questions likely to occupy the public attention 
for generations and destined to shape the growth 
of our nation for all time. 

In the conclusion of the old era the Wilson 
Administration achieved, perhaps, the most not- 
able legislation ever enacted in an equal period 
of time in the history of the Congress of the 
United States. However, so many things have 
occurred since then — "the terrible swift sword" 
has so affected men's memories — that even those 
acts have been almost forgotten, except in circles 
affected directly by them. The reduced tariff, an 

5 



6 INTRODUCTION 

income tax, the banished lobby, the Federal Re- 
serve Act, the struggle through the long, hot 
summer against boss-rule and machine methods, 
the Alaska railroad, the Clayton Anti-Trust Act, 
another summer of intense labor, the destruction 
of monopoly, the Federal Trade Commission, the 
conservation of material and human resources — 
these suggest an era long removed from the 
present, but they are the epitome of the first eigh- 
teen months of the Wilson Administration. 

The sixty-third Congress, the Long Congress, 
brought the old era to a close and witnessed the 
beginning of the new. In it will be found, stand- 
ing close together, the solution of old problems 
and the beginnings of new issues. The student of 
history who recalls the vast crowds that assembled 
in 1912 and the fiery speeches of the leaders of 
that time, and contrasts the marching crowds of 
1916 and the fiery speeches by the same leaders 
to the same people on different issues, must 
realize that in the meantime affairs of consequence 
have taken place. 

A vast gulf separates 1912 and 1916. Men's 
thoughts have turned about; men's ideas have 
changed; the world is different; it is drifting on 
an unknown sea; seemingly impossible things are 



INTRODUCTION 7 

happening daily; and no man knows into what 
kind of harbor the ship will at last be moored. 
Fortunate was it indeed for America that the 
issues of 1912 were really settled before the vital 
issues of 1916 had taken shape and dwarfed all 
other issues. 

The European war has changed the course of 
history. The world has gone mad. Men stand 
amazed, shocked, shuddering at the fierceness of 
this insatiate monster which threatens a break- 
down of civilization and a return to the Dark 
Ages. 

Great men have risen among us. They are 
grappling heroically with the problems of the day 
just as did the great men in other crises of the 
world's history. 

But how happens it that America alone of the 
great nations of the earth is so happily situated? 
Her people are free to come and go, to think and 
speak and act. They enjoy unbounded and un- 
precedented prosperity. Their nation has come 
to be the richest on earth. Their foreign trade is 
expanding as never before, itself an epoch in their 
history. In the twinkling of an eye they have 
changed from a debtor nation to a creditor nation 
and have become the leading bankers of the world. 



g INTRODUCTION 

In spite of the world's turmoil, they have had 
leisure in calmness and with deliberation to 
settle their internal affairs and to mitigate the 
evils which menace the processes of their own 
development. 

Notwithstanding these favors, new issues have 
arisen as a result of the great war that are now 
pressing heavily for solution. "America First" 
is a watchword with which to stir the patriotism 
of the people. "The melting-pot" is a symbol 
that tells of our composite character in a time of 
"civil war by proxy." "Pan Americanism" 
speaks of a new continental policy. "Prepared- 
ness" — military preparedness, commercial pre- 
paredness, industrial preparedness, and educa- 
tional preparedness suggest other problems that 
this war has brought to us for solution. 

Woodrow Wilson, the President, is guiding this 
nation across the gulf that separates the past from 
the future. He has established a marvelous leader- 
ship and has become one of the world's great 
figures within the brief span of four years. But 
how did he reach this fine eminence? 

He laid his hand upon monopoly, and it sur- 
rendered its power. He drove invisible govern- 
ment out of Washington and enthroned the 



INTRODUCTION 9 

people's representatives as sovereign in the 
Nation's capital. And when the old era died and 
the new appeared, a revitalized democracy faced 
the future. 

He called to Europe when the mad nations had 
slipped their cables and sanity returned. He 
stretched his hand to the Latin- American republics 
and they grasped it in an hour of peril and the 
two continents became friends. He stood by the 
prostrate form of Mexico, her silent friend, and 
waited patiently for the re-birth of constitutional 
government. He kept "America First" aflame in 
the hearts of patriots and partisans until hatred 
was consumed and America, "the melting-pot of 
nations," was prepared to meet the crises of this 
new era. 

Such is the story that runs through these 
chapters. 



CONTEXTS 



PART I 

CHAPTER PAGE 

T. A New Champion of the People Appears 13 

II. A New and Untried Leader is Chosen 25 

III. I xaugurating the New Reoim£ 4") 

-"TV. A New Tariff: the First Stage in the Journey 

to New Freedom 61 

-^^ A New Currency : the Second .Stage in the Jour- 
ney 91 

VI. The Destruction of Monopoly: the Third Stage 

of the Journey 124 

VII. The End of the Old Regim£ 160 

VIII. A New Foreign Policy 1 00 

IX. The President Broadens the Meaning of the 

Monroe Doctrine 170" 

X. The New American Policy Applied to Mexico.. 190 
XI. President Wilson's Relations with General 

Carranza 220 

XII. Good Faith and Justice Toward all Nations... 250 

PART II 



XIII. TnE European War and a New Era 271 

X I V. America First '^77 

w. Holding the World to Some Standard 307 

XVI. Military Preparedness Becomes a National 

Problem 362 

XVII. The President Takes the Issue to the People.. 38S 

XVIII. The Nation for Military PREPAREDNESS 301 

XIX. The Need of Commercial Preparedness 408 

XX. The Need of Industrial Preparedness -in 

XXI. Forming a Pan-American Union 477 

XXII. The Xeed of Educational Preparedness 508 

XXIII. Tin: Man in Action 520 

11 



APPENDIX 

SELECTIONS FROM WOODROW WILSON'S 
PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

PAGE 

The .Spirit ok Penn 538 

John Barry's Example 540 

The Plain Men of the Colonies 543 

The Meaning of the Declaration of Independence 548 

Our Duty to the Defenders of the Union 553 

The New Era 557 

The American Flag 559 

The Meaning of the Flag 560 

Let No Man Create Division 561 

What America Has to Fear 564 

Our Neutrality Misunderstood 566 

The Lesson of the War 568 



12 



Woodrow Wilson as President 

PART I 

CHAPTER I 

A NEW CHAMPION OF THE PEOPLE APPEARS 

Politics in the year 1912 was staged with all the 
elements of the melodrama. Big Business was the vil- 
lain ; the people's representatives were crying for relief ; 
the star players, who were ready to lead the reform 
with the zeal of a crusader, were coming to the front 
for a round of applause; and from the anterooms the 
crafty agents of the villain were conning their parts 
in a whispered monotone. Nor was the drama want- 
ing in the elements of the tragic and the comic. Big 
Business was accused of hideous crimes and convicted 
of many. But perhaps its most objectionable feature 
was its size and the way it supported its weight, which, 
like the corpulency of Sir John Falstaff, was a ludicrous 
handicap to the progress of the drama. However, when 
the curtain arose, Big Business, terrified by the 
confusion resulting from a clamor of accusations and 
from the assaults of the plumed knights, could have 
exclaimed, in the language of the fat comedian, "It 

13 



14 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

were better to be eaten to death with a rust than to be 
scoured to nothing with perpetual motion." 

But here the analogy must end. The issues of the 
year were too real to be staged, and the unremedied 
wrongs too tragic to be used for an evening's enter- 
tainment. All the strength of the old-time political 
parties was accumulating to fight one great evil, and 
the campaign for the Presidency was turning on one 
issue — human rights against material rights. This prob- 
lem embraced the questions of monopoly, of special 
privilege, of governmental policy, and of the rights of 
a free people. But these are trite and time-worn 
phrases which for a generation have been rolled like 
sweet morsels by friend and foe of liberty; and even 
in very remote townships they have served in the ab- 
sence of a real local issue to elect a township constable 
as well as to defeat a great leader for the Presidency. 

So long had the evils of monopoly been growing in 
the nation, and so long have these terms of abuse been 
employed, that they had grown smooth from the abrasion 
of perpetual use. Therefore, when the campaign of 
1912 opened, they had almost ceased to convey an idea 
to many minds, and their chief value seemed to be to 
enable the historian or the political economist to trace 
the decline of political freedom. 

However, one corporation after another had been 
brought before the bar of justice and stories of real 
or imagined Avrongs had been trailed through the press 



CHAMPION OF THE PEOPLE 15 

of the country so long that the conviction that Big 
Business -was dishonest and unscrupulous, deepened 
with a feeling of distrust and even of hatred. Through- 
out the nation, therefore, there was such a deep-seated 
hostility to it that, in many sections of the country, if 
a large corporation went into the courts with a case 
that was at all doubtful, it was almost impossible to 
secure from a jury a verdict in its favor. Thus the 
people at large had formed a habit of mind that was 
instinctively hostile to great wealth. 

On the other hand, Big Business had formed the 
habit of looking to the Government for protection — 
protection from the people, protection from competi- 
tion, protection from interference. The close relation- 
ship between the national government and large private 
interests due to protection gave the impression that 
America was ruled by an oligarchy composed of the 
captains of industry. In order to protect themselves, 
while the spirit of unrest was growing, the business of 
the country became so interlaced that the larger indus- 
trial life stood like a house of cards propped together, 
the good and the bad, and when the government at- 
tacked one, it appeared to be attacking all. Therefore, 
it seemed that the government had to protect all or 
disturb all, for to destroy bad business threatened dis- 
aster throughout the country. 

Privilege in one form or another had grown very 
complex, very pervasive, and could be seen cropping 



16 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

out everywhere. It had, in fact, woven itself into every 
part of our political life, and many thinking people 
had come honestly to the conclusion that such a rela- 
tionship was natural and that whoever disturbed it 
was an enemy to good government. However, there 
were many men, even among the captains of industry, 
who were profoundly concerned over this relationship, 
this dependence of business upon governmental pro- 
tection, and this interlocking and interlacing of inter- 
ests. Moreover, the plain people, the great middle 
class, who were not members of these gigantic concerns, 
and who never asked the government for any right 
save to live their lives in a free country, had felt for 
a generation that injustice was at work in the nation, 
since Big Business did not owe its existence nor its 
large profits primarily to increasing efficiency, but to 
the control of the market through the destruction of 
competition. Thoughtful men in both parties were 
aware of these evils. Moreover, it was pointed out, 
time after time, that the art of making a living must 
be protected more and more effectively, and the only 
thing that can guarantee the progress of the race is 
competition, or cooperation that does not destroy com- 
petition. 

As the summer of 1912 was approaching, when the 
political parties were to select their candidates for the 
Presidency, the issue was reduced almost to this simple 
proposition — monopoly must be destroyed and com- 



CHAMPION OF THE PEOPLE 17 

petition restored. But monopoly had grown up under 
the protection of the government, although the officers 
of the government all had been avowed enemies of spe- 
cial privilege. This was the anomalous and very extraor- 
dinary condition, the Gordian knot that the nation 
— Big Business as well as the people at large — de- 
sired to see cut, But it was a Herculean task that 
confronted the political parties, and the people every- 
where were asking this question, Would a champion 
come forth who could command the strength to win? 

The people had struggled for twenty years against 
trusts and monopolies, and they were now calling for 
a leader, a man of wisdom and integrity and power. 
And it mattered little from what political party he 
should come; 

There were two great national leaders in the fulness 
of their power, and to them, more than to any others, 
the nation looked for guidance in the matter — one was 
William Jennings Bryan, a Democrat; and the other 
was Theodore Roosevelt, a Republican. 

Mr. Bryan had been nominated for the Presidency 
of the United States three times and three times had 
been defeated ; yet his leadership remained. He seemed 
to thrive on defeat. However, after his first defeat 
in 1896 he established a newspaper. From thai and 
from the proceeds of his lectures he provided himself 
with freedom of action to go anywhere at any lime and 
address the people on the issues of the day. The m. 1st 



13 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

brilliant orator of his generation, he attracted great 
audiences wherever he spoke, and he went everywhere 
— he knew everybody and everybody knew him. He 
was the King of Chautauqua platforms. He possessed 
wonderful physical vitality and seemed never to tire. 
For sixteen years he had voiced the unrest of the na- 
tion, and there was no doubt that he felt as the people 
felt. He knew that something was wrong, and he spoke 
his feelings in such terms as to stir his audience wher- 
ever he went. In this way he contributed powerfully 
to arousing the people to a sense of their wrongs. 

Theodore Roosevelt had been President of the United 
States for seven years. During his occupancy of that 
office his sayings and his doings continually held pop- 
ular interest, and he, too, with the prestige of his high 
office giving force to his speeches, proclaimed that 
things were wrong. He was so powerful that he had 
not only been re-elected for a second term, but he had 
dictated the nomination of his successor, taken from 
his own cabinet, and had materially assisted in the 
election which followed. He was gifted with marvelous 
political sagacity, and he had the prestige of never 
having been beaten. He had contributed greatly to 
the spread of progressive ideas, and the full force of 
his dramatic personality was thrown into the campaign 
for the Presidency. 

Mr. Roosevelt and Mr. Bryan were the antithesis of 
each other. What the one was the other was not, and 



CHAMPION OF THE PEOPLE 19 

willingly they agreed on nothing; yet each knew that 
something was wrong. They agreed as to many of the 
things that were wrong, but they differed fundamen- 
tally as to how to remedy the wrong. The year 1912 
found both of them private citizens, and yet they were 
the two most powerful men in the nation because of 
their influence with the people. 

All the forces of reform seemed to gather headway 
as the great national conventions of 1912 began to 
take shape, and striking scenes were witnessed. Mr. 
Roosevelt fought Big Business in the Republican 
party, but he was beaten in the Chicago Convention 
amidst the most dramatic scenes. He Avithdrew from 
the party, organized a third party, became its candidate 
for the Presidency, and began one of the most spec- 
tacular campaigns in the history of the Republic. 

President Taft was renominated by the Republican 
party ; but he was not a great leader. Neither his hon- 
esty, his patriotism, nor his ability was seriously ques- 
tioned. But, when he was in the wrong, he did not 
have the adroitness to make his cause appear the better, 
and when he was in the right, he did not have the 
power to evoke popular support. He was characterized 
as "a very poor politician, with no instinct for read- 
ing the signs of the times or for discharging the high 
duties of his office in a way to arouse enthusiasm for 
inspiring leadership." 

Scarcely had the echoes of the Republican convention 



20 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

at Chicago died away when the struggle was renewed 
in the Democratic convention at Baltimore. There Mr. 
Bryan fought Big Business amidst scenes not less 
exciting than those at Chicago. As the contest con- 
tinued and the agents of monopoly appeared more 
active, Mr. Bryan, in a dramatic attack on what seemed 
to be the attempt of Big Business to control the 
nomination, withdrew his support from one candidate 
and threw the weight of his great influence to a less 
favored son in the convention, and Governor Woodrow 
Wilson, of New Jersey, was nominated. Thus was 
ushered into the limelight a third great personality. 

The Democratic nominee was referred to as "the 
scholar in politics." He had been a teacher of history 
and political economy, and had won distinction as an 
interpreter of modern sociological and political prob- 
lems and institutions. Moreover, he was a recognized 
writer of force, and his books on government were 
widely used both in Europe and America. The teacher 
and writer became president of Princeton University in 
1902, but his executive duties did not deter him from 
discussing political problems, and in the period from 
1902 to 1910 while Mr. Bryan and Mr. Roosevelt were 
active in politics, Mr. Wilson was analyzing for the 
nation the problems of government and pointing to 
definite solutions. 

But he did not enter politics until 1907, when his 
friends in New Jersey brought him out as a candidate 



CHAMPION OF THE PEOPLE 21 

for the United States Senate. Three years later (1910) 
he was nominated for Governor. Only his most cn- 
thusiastic friends believed he could be elected. New 
Jersey had been under Republican rule, and for the 
most of that time under boss rule of the most distinct 
type. However, Mr. Wilson took the stump and at 
once loomed large as a political campaigner. His 
speeches were so effective that he rapidly obtained a 
large following. Metropolitan newspapers featured his 
addresses. He was again the interpreter of political 
institutions and in his own state he had a concrete illus- 
tration of private control of political institutions and 
the loss of individual freedom and initiative. He was 
elected, and this remarkable achievement made him a 
Presidential possibility, and in 1912 he was nominated 
for the Presidency by the Democratic convention. 

The three parties introduced their respective chiefs 
to the nation, compiled their platforms and came be- 
fore the people, each asking for the election of its 
candidate. Each asserted emphatically that monopoly 
should be destroyed, and that in order to make the 
• list ruction natural as well as complete, the cause of 
monopolies should be removed. But men could not 
agree as to the cause of monopoly. Was the protective 
tariff the Leading cause? That was the question. Mr. 
Taft, the candidate of the Republican party, said he 
was pledged in the Republican platform to "maintain 
a degree of protection." Mr. Wilson was opposed to 



22 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

all forms of protection. But Mr. Roosevelt's position 
was not so clear. He said, "We believe in a tariff for 
labor — a tariff to help our wage workers." 

Were monopoly and trusts the result, in part, of our 
currency laws? The Republican platform declared that 
"our banking arrangements today need further revision 
to meet the requirement of current conditions." The 
Democratic party said that the nation should be freed 
"from control or dominion by what is known as the 
money trust. Banks exist for the accommodation of 
the public, and not for the control of business," and 
all legislation should provide "absolute security to the 
public and complete protection from the misuse of the 
power given to those who possess it." The Progress- 
ives declared that ' ' the present method of issuing notes 
through private agencies is harmful and unscientific." 

However, the complaint against our banking laws ex- 
tended beyond the bounds of political parties. There 
was considerable difference of opinion among the bank- 
ers themselves. The American Bankers' Association in 
convention at Detroit declared "that this Association 
will cooperate with any and all people in devising a 
financial system for this country which will place us 
on a par with other great commercial and competing 
nations ; a system which shall give to the American 
people of all classes and conditions the financial facili- 
ties and industrial advantages to Avhich they are en- 
titled." 



CHAMPION OF THE PEOPLE 23 

Was there anything inherently wrong in the organ- 
ization of business? All parties agreed that there was, 
and the indictments under the Sherman anti-trust law 
were convincing to the nation. Moreover, Pig Busi- 
ness, being "scoured to nothing with perpetual motion," 
was asking for relief, for surcease from agitation and 
for a clear cut road to public favor. Who could give it ; 
Mr. Roosevelt and the Progressives, Mr. Taft and the 
Republicans, or Mr. Wilson and the Democrats? 

The eyes of the nation soon became fixed on two 
of the candidates — on Theodore Roosevelt, because of 
his spectacular fight against the Republican party; and 
on Woodrow Wilson, because of the extraordinary 
chain of events that had produced his nomination. The 
Democratic party, notwithstanding the great conven- 
tion fight, was more united that it had been since 1896. 
People everywhere were talking about "Wilson luck." 
He was nominated in the face of machine politics and 
the money interests. Even Mr. Roosevelt had praised 
him highly, not suspecting for a moment he could be 
nominated. He appeared before the nation at a time 
when the Republican party was hopelessly divided. 
Even in the councils of his party, objectionable men 
withdrew and left the management in the hands of his 
friends, and opposition within the Democratic party 
seemed to fade away without a protest. Then came 
the news from Sea Girt, his summer home, that he 
would conduct his campaign for election without the 



24 VVOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

aid of the National Committeemen. "Remarkable 
man!" they said. And many non-Calvinists really 
hoped there was something in predestination. 

The office of President has become much more com- 
plicated than it used to be ; and, since it was a prob- 
ability that Mr. Wilson would be elected if the split 
in the Republican party continued, men all over the 
Avorld were wondering and asking one another what 
constructive qualities he possessed and what power of 
resistance he had. His "Essays on Government" were 
reread, his books of history became popular at once, 
his characterizations of American statesmen were ap- 
praised, and his political theories were growing in 
popularity. A new leader, indeed, had appeared. 



CHAPTER II 

AN UNTRIED LEADER IS CHOSEN 

The campaign of 1912 was unique. Party control 
was weak and machine politics were mechanical and 
unnatural. The management of the campaign was in 
the hands of young men; the press bureau rose into 
prominence ; and a direct appeal to the people took the 
place of the "inside room" conference. 

On August 7 Governor Wilson was formally notified 
that he was the choice of the Democratic party for the 
presidency of the United States. He had remained 
silent since his nomination. But on this occasion party 
leaders signaled to him to come forth from his tem- 
porary retirement and speak to the nation. And he 
came forth, the man in action, to translate his political 
philosophy, seasoned Avith mature thought, into a new 
freedom for the American people. 

It was a part of Mr. Wilson's temperament as well 
as his philosophy to hold steadfastly to a small body 
of clear cut doctrines, the central idea of which was 
the great issue already before the people — the doc- 
trine that government should have nothing to do 
with special privilege. His speech of acceptance was 
received by the people as a fine product of a public 

25 



26 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

man of right convictions. Its greatest significance, it 
was said at the time of its utterance, lies in its appeal 
"for the emancipation of our public life from its 
domination by private interests and by a class of men 
who are in politics for their own personal benefit. ' ' 

"We stand," he said, "in the presence of an 
awakened Nation, impatient of partisan make- 
believe. The public man who does not realize the 
fact and feel its stimulation must be singularly 
unsusceptible to the influences that stir in every 
quarter about him. The Nation has awakened to 
a sense of neglected ideals and neglected duties; 
to a' consciousness that the rank and file of her 
people find life very hard to sustain, that her 
young men find opportunity embarrassed, and that 
her older men find business difficult to renew and 
maintain because of circumstances of privilege 
and private advantage which have interlaced their 
subtle threads throughout almost every part of 
the framework of our present law. She has 
awakened to the knowledge that she has lost 
certain cherished liberties and has wasted price- 
less resources which she had solemnly undertaken 
to hold in trust for posterity and for all mankind ; 
and to the conviction that she stands confronted 
w r ith an occasion for constructive statesmanship 



AN UNTRIED LEADER 27 

such as has not arisen since the great days in 
which her Government was set up." 

He called the nation to witness that a new age was 
at hand, regardless of which candidate was elected. 
The suspicion and mistrust and confusion, he argued, 
all warned those in authority and those who worked 
to be placed in authority that Ave were on the divide 
and governmental process of the future would never 
again be the same as those of the past. Then he 
asked, "What is there to do?" 

"It is hard to sum up the great task, but 
apparently this is the sum of the matter : There 
are two great things to do. One is to set up the 
rule of justice and of right in such matters as the 
tariff, the regulation of the trusts, and the preven- 
tion of monopoly, the adaptation of our banking 
and currency laws to the various uses to which our 
people must put them, the treatment of those who 
do the daily labor in our factories and mines and 
throughout all our great commercial and indus- 
trial undertakings, and the political life of the 
people of the Philippines, for whom we hold 
governmental power in trust, for their service, not 
our own. The other, the additional duty, is the 
great task of protecting our people and our 



28 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

resources and of keeping open to the whole people 
the doors of opportunity through which they must, 
generation by generation, pass if they are to make 
conquest of their fortunes in health, in freedom, 
in peace, and in contentment. In the performance 
of this second duty we are face to face with ques- 
tions of conservation and of development, ques- 
tions of forests and water powers and mines and 
waterways, of the building of an adequate mer- 
chant marine, and the opening of every highway 
and facility and the setting up of every safeguard 
needed by a great, industrious, expanding nation. 
"These are all great matters on which every- 
body should be heard. We have got into trouble 
in recent years chiefly because these large things, 
which ought to have been handled by taking coun- 
sel with as large a number of people as possible, 
because they touched every interest and the life 
of every class and region, have in fact been too 
often handled in private conference. They have 
been settled by very small, and often deliberately 
exclusive, groups of men who undertook to speak 
for the whole nation, or rather for themselves in 
the terms of the whole nation — very honestly it 
may be true, but very ignorantly sometimes, and 
very shortsightedly, too — a poor substitute for 



AN UNTRIED LEADER 29 

genuine common counsel. No group of directors, 
economic or political, can speak for a people. 
They have neither the point of view nor the 
knowledge. Our difficulty is not that wicked and 
designing men have plotted against us, but that 
our common affairs have been determined upon 
too narrow a view, and by too private an initial Lve. 
Our task is now to effect a great readjustment and 
get the forces of the whole people once more into 
play. We need no revolution; we need no exci 1 <■- 1 
change; we need only a new point of view and a 
new method and spirit of counsel." 

It was a part of Mr. Wilson's philosophy that the 
proper point of view is obtained not from the cloistered 
library nor from the "inside room" of political man- 
agers, but from taking counsel with the body of the 
nation. Therefore, in closing his address, he announced 
with refreshing frankness a new policy that would lie 
inaugurated if he should become President. 

"No man can be just who is not free," he said, 
"and no man who lias to show favor ought to 
undertake the solemn responsibility of govern- 
ment, in any rank or post whatever, least of all in 
the supreme post of President of the United 
States. 



30 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

"To be free is not necessarily to be wise. But 
wisdom comes with counsel, with the frank and 
free conference of untrammeled men united in the 
common interest. Should I be entrusted with the 
great office of President, I would seek counsel 
wherever it could be had upon free terms. I know 
the temper of the great convention which nom- 
inated me ; I know the temper of the country which 
lay back of that convention and spoke through it. 
I heed with deep thankfulness the message you 
bring me from it. I feel that I am surrounded by 
men whose principles and ambitions are those of 
true servants of the people. I thank God, and will 
take courage." 

This address became, of course, a campaign docu- 
ment, and as such it was a mark for the critics. It 
was considered by some as "intensely radical," and 
by others as "unduly conservative." But it was re- 
ceived in the main as a "legitimate political discussion, 
upon a high plane," and the press was almost unani- 
mous in its praise. Mr. Wilson was calling for a great 
readjustment — a judgment day that the nation feared. 
Yet all the time it was becoming clearer that the read- 
justment must come. Could this man who had been 
in political life only two years bring "the forces of 
the whole people once more into play?" 



AN UNTRIED LEADEB 31 

It was an unusual campaign. The Democratic leader 
and the Democratic policies received a minimum of 
criticism. The great fight was between the two Repub- 
lican factions. While the political leaders of the old 
Republican party were fighting each other with the 
bitterness of a domestic row or a church feud, Woodrow 
Wilson was moving toward the Presidency with the 
Democratic party behind him. His campaign was con- 
ducted with personal tact and dignity. Nowhere was 
he a popular idol, but his personality kept increasing 
its hold upon the public, Avhich at first thought of him 
in his academic capacity. But he had been too long 
before the American people as a writer and speaker 
and he had too many defenders in the nation for his 
detractors to ridicule him out of the race. It was 
said in his defense that "as an administrator he has 
carried on the affairs of a great university, a position 
which in our country trains for governmental admin- 
istration better than almost any other kind of experi- 
ence," and the dignity and importance of the educa- 
tional executive was increased. Furthermore, it was- 
declared that "as Governor of New Jersey, he has 
shown that he can meet the exigencies of political 
parties with firmness and upon high ground," and his 
candidacy was strengthened. 

Throughout the campaign his political opponents 
naturally did their best to find debating ground against 
Lis views as expressed from time 1<> time. But, at the 



32 \\ OODHOW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

conclusion, it was declared even by his generous ad- 
versaries that ''he kept an admirable poise and 
temper, talked generalities in a charming manner, and 
found himself on good terms with everybody at the 
end of his campaign." Since his election, Mr. Wilson's 
campaign addresses have been collected, rearranged, 
and published under the title of ' ' The New Freedom. ' ' 
But throughout the campaign he held the attention of 
the nation to one central issue: "Private monopoly is 
indefensible and intolerable," and the causes of 
monopoly — the protective tariff, our centralized cur- 
rency, and our inadequate anti-trust laws — must be 
removed. 

It was a remarkable campaign. In the first place, 
the country was in a prosperous condition. The largest 
and most profitable harvest in history was at hand. 
Labor was unusually well employed. The iron output 
was the largest in history, and the money market was 
unusually strong. This was certainly not a good year 
for the political agitator. But it was an opportune 
time to call attention in an unimpassioned way to a 
fundamental weakness in the nation and to take care- 
ful steps to remedy the defect before a period of de- 
pression should make an opening for the agitator. 
Therefore, as a result of the greatest campaign since 
the slavery controversy, the nation was bound to profit, 
regardless of who was elected. And Mr. Wilson was 
right — a new era was at hand. 



AN UNTRIED LEADER 33 

As the campaign came to a close, Mr. Wilson's elec- 
tion was predicted, lml the outcome was by no means 
certain. Many declared that it was altogether prob- 
able that there would be no election and that the next 
President would be selected by the House of Repre- 
sentatives. It was a season when machine methods 
would not work, and machine estimates were unre- 
liable. Therefore, the nation was prepared to accept 
without much comment the election of any of the three 
candidates. 

After sixteen years of protesting, the Democratic 
party was again entrusted with the destiny of the 
nation, and Woodrow Wilson, the teacher and phil- 
osopher, saw a nation in confusion crown him with 
authority to lead it back into paths of right and justice 
and freedom. 

There was, of course, unrestrained joy over the re- 
sults. The enthusiasts were wild and referred to the 
"victory" as a "great revolution" with the Republican 
party fallen "into a heap of shapeless ruin." How- 
ever, Mr. Wilson, the President-elect, was too wise to 
be deceived by the size of the electoral vote. 

"I want everybody to realize that I was not 
taken in by the results of the last national elec- 
tion," lie said. "It was impossible for it to go 
Republican, because it couldn't tell which kind of 
Republican to go. The only united, helpful instru- 



34 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

ment with which it could accomplish its purpose 
was the Democratic party, and what it did was 
to say this : 

" 'There are certain things that we want to 
see done, not certain persons whom we want to see 
elevated; there are certain things we want to 
see administered. This great United States can 
no longer be controlled by special interests. Now 
we are going to try the Democratic party as our 
instrument to discover these things. If the try is 
not successful, we will never make it again. We 
want an instrument in our hands by which we can 
be masters of our own affairs. It looks likely that 
this is a suitable and representative instrument; 
therefore, we will try it. ' " 

It had become a political habit to discuss and abuse 
monopoly in the midst of a great campaign. But even 
after the November election, the question would not 
down as usual. When the last session of the Sixty- 
second Congress convened in December, the Pujo in- 
vestigating committee seemed determined to prove that 
a consciously constructed "money trust" did exist, 
which had the power of life and death over the finan- 
cial world. Such activity could not be for campaign 
purposes, because the campaign was over. 

This committee was giving the nation one sensation 



AN UNTRIED LEADER 35 

after another. Heads of great corporations were called 
to Washington and testified concerning the methods 
of great corporations, and it was said that business was 
panicky and Wall Street was having "an attack of 
nerves." Although the existence of a money trust 
was not entirely proved, it was shown that a gigantic 
concentration of money power did exist and with it 
a very large control over banking credit. This evil, 
it was said, was due to our antiquated and inadequate 
banking laws. Even some of the leading bankers of 
the country testified that "concentration to the point 
it has gone is a menace," and that if the power result- 
ing from this concentration should fall into "good 
hands, I do not see that it would do any harm; but 
if it got into bad hands, it would be very bad." 

The next question uppermost in the minds of the 
people was, What effect will these disclosures have on 
President-elect Wilson, who is a man of "great at- 
tainments and high character?" His closest friends 
advised the nation that honest business would have 
nothing to fear from him since, "lie works in the open. 
His task is done within sight and sound of the people. 
There can be no invisible government. He has often 
said that what he did as Governor of New Jersey was 
to create a situation wherein men Avere free to act 
and work openly." But the situation in Washington 
had been so different, it was declared, that the honest 



36 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

people ''down home" could not even understand the 
official language of the Capitol. 

It is quite probable, therefore, that so much concern 
for the future had not been felt since the election of 
Abraham Lincoln, and any public utterance by the 
President-elect would naturally be subjected to the 
closest scrutiny. He remained silent until the last of 
December. In the meantime, the Pujo committee had 
been at work and business was declaring that "times 
look bad." Mr. Wilson was back in the land of his 
birth, in Staunton, Virginia. There he declared again 
the principles that should guide him in his administra- 
tion. He called attention to the fact that the 20th 
century is very much like the beginning of the 19th cen- 
tury, and that we have come back to the fundamental 
question of that period — the relation of governments 
to humanity, and continuing, he said : 

' ' We are learning again that the service of 
humanity is the best business of mankind, and that 
the business of mankind must be set forward by 
the government which mankind sets up, in order 
that justice may be done and mercy not forgotten. 
All the world, I say, is turning now, as never 
before, to this conception of the elevation of 
humanity, not of the preferred few, not of those 
who can by superior wit or unusual opportunity 



AX UNTRIED LEADEB 37 

struggle (o the top, no matter whom they trample 
under feet, but of men who cannot struggle to the 
top and who must, therefore, be looked to by the 
forces of society, for they have no single force by 
which they can serve themselves. 

"There must be heart in a government and in 
the policies of the government. And men must 
look to it, that they do unto others as they would 
have others do unto them. This has long been 
the theme of the discourses of Christian ministers, 
but it has not come to be part of the bounden duties 
of Ministers of State. 

"This is the solemnity that comes upon a man 
when he knows that he is about to be clothed witli 
the responsibilities of a great office, in which will 
center part of the example which America shall 
set to the world itself. Do you suppose that that 
gives a man a very light hearted Christmas! I 
could pick out some gentlemen, not confined to one 
state — gentlemen likely to be associated with the 
government of the United States — who have not 
yet had it dawned upon their intelligence what it 
is that Government is set up to do. There are 
men who will have to be mastered in order that 
they shall be made the instruments of justice and 
mercy. ' ' 



38 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

He declared that the task ahead was not a ''rose- 
water affair," that there must be some good hard fight- 
ing in order that we may achieve the things that we 
have set out to achieve. He then hurled a challenge 
to Big Business that sent a thrill throughout the busi- 
ness world. 

"The word that stands at the center of what 
has to be done is a very interesting word indeed. 
It has hitherto been supposed to be a word of 
charity, a word of philanthropy, a word which has 
to do with the operations of the human heart, 
rather than with the operations of the human mind. 
I mean the word 'service.' The one thing that 
the business men of the United States are now 
discovering, some of them for themselves, and 
some of them by suggestion, is that they are not 
going to be allowed to make any money except 
for a quid pro quo, that they must render a service 
or get nothing, and that in the regulation of busi- 
ness the government, that is to say, the moral 
judgment of the majority must determine whether 
what they are doing is a service or not a service, 
and that everything in business and politics is 
going to be reduced to the standard. 'Are you 
giving anything to society when you want to take 



AN UNTRIED LEADEB 39 

anything out of society?' is the question to put to 

them. ' ' 

The nation read with eagerness that address the 
next morning. The Pujo Committee Avas still at work, 
and there was a panicky feeling along the arteries of 
business. Editorials larger, yes much larger, than 
the address appeared. They referred to his "service 
of humanity" as being somewhat platitudinous. But 
his reference to Big Business and the necessity for a 
quid pro quo made this paternalistic government shiver, 
and Jefferson was quoted to prove that democracy 
and government had had nothing to do with this 
quid pro quo. It Avas said that Mr. Wilson Avould have 
so many duties to perform — "the plain, old-fashioned, 
needful things he Avill be called upon to do, Ave are in- 
clined to think, that the realization of the 'vision splen- 
did' by Avhich he at present 'moves attended' may 
easily be — and probably Avill have to be — for a con- 
siderable time postponed." But one thing Avas ad- 
mitted, Mr. Wilson spoke very clearly and distinctly, 
and Avhen he reduced his thoughts to writing, he did use 
very good English. It Avas so simple that the plain 
man could understand it, and the nation Avould soon 
learn his theories if he Avrote and spoke enough. It 
did not have to Avait long for another Avord from him. 

In January, 1913, the President-elect entered the 
very heart of the Big Business district and spoke 



40 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

to the Commercial Club of Chicago. "I came," he 
said, "to ask your counsel and assistance." It was 
very clear, therefore, that Big Business must really 
reckon with this educationist who believed in "right 
and justice," and the Golden Rule. He called their 
attention to an "inner circle," and to a banking system 
' ' that had already been convicted. ' ' They were already 
acquainted with the Pujo committee. He reminded 
the Club that the business future of this country does 
not depend on the Government of the United States. 
"The Government," he said, "cannot build a temper, 
it cannot generate thought and purpose. Things done 
under the whip of the law are done sullenly, somewhat 
reluctantly, and never successfully. I want to take 
sternness out of the country. I want to see suspicion 
dissipated." 

This Commercial Club, however, seemed to be un- 
able to follow him. But he was determined to be under- 
stood, and he continued : 

' ' I want to see the time brought about when the 
rank and file of the citizens of the United States 
who have a stern attitude toward the business 
men of the country shall be absolutely done away 
with and forgotten. Perfectly honest men are now 
at a disadvantage in America because business 
methods in general are not trusted by the people, 



AN UNTRIED LEADER 41 

taken as a whole Thai is unjust to you, it is 
unjust to everybody with whom business deals and 
everybody whom business touches. 

"In the United Slates they do not believe — I 
mean the rank and file of our people do not 
believe — that men of every kind are upon an 
equality in their access to the resources of the 
country, any more than they believe that every- 
body is upon equal terms in his access to the justice 
of the country. It is believed in this country that 
a poor man has less chance to get justice admin- 
istered to him than a rich man. God forbid that 
that should be generally true." 

Those remarks wore appreciated and applauded. But, 
whon the President-elect suggest ed his remedy, that 
"we must see to it that the business of the United 
States is set absolutely free of every feature of monop- 
oly," the business men gave him a stare and did not 
respond. 

Here Governor Wilson paused, looked around the 
banquet room, and then added : 

"I notice you do not applaud that. I am some- 
what disappointed because unless you feel that 
way the thing is not going to happen except by 



42 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

duress, which is the worst way to bring anything 
about, because there will be monopoly in this 
country until there are no important business men 
who do not intend to bring it about. I know that 
when they are talking about that, they say there 
is not anybody in the United States who ever 
intended to set up a monopoly. But I know there 
are some gentlemen who did deliberately go 
about to set up monopoly. We know that they 
intended to do it because they did it. 

"I don't care how big a particular business gets 
provided it grows big in contact with sharp com- 
petition, and I know that a business based upon 
genuine capital which has not a drop of water in 
it can be conducted with greater efficiency and 
economy than a business that is loaded with 
water. ' ' 

The morning after this address the stock market was 
again unsteady and business was not so good. But 
what had the President-elect really said? There are 
dishonest men in business, people do not believe that 
they can get justice, business relies too much on gov- 
ernment, monopolies must go. A few days later he 
spoke in Trenton, New Jersey, and again his "attack on 
business" was disconcerting. Now, the very fact that 
business became excited was either a proof that the 



AN UNTRIED LEADER 43 

newly elected President was right, or this Calvin ist 
might have some blue laws up his sleeve which he ex- 
pected to enforce later. The press of the country was 
somewhat severe in its criticism of these speeches, and 
for several days the business of the country seemed to 
be very much alarmed. It was even reported that his 
utterances were about to produce a panic. One may re- 
read the above addresses today and smile at the uneasy 
state produced by such utterances. However, the 
panicky feeling was so perceptible that Mr. Wilson's 
secretary felt called upon to issue the following state- 
ment : 

"Attempts are being made to make an issue of Gov- 
ernor Wilson's speech at Chicago. This is nothing less 
than amusing. Governor Wilson's attitude on business 
and its relations to government, as expressed in his 
several speeches since election, is, as any well informed 
person in the country would testify, exactly the same 
as his attitude before his nomination and before his 
election. 

"Every word that Governor Wilson has uttered is 
in complete harmony with the principles to which he 
has strictly adhered throughout his public career. If 
there is any surprise in this attitude, it can be man- 
ifested only by those who fail to realize that the count ry 
has elected to the Presidency an honest and fearless 
man who means exactly what he says." 

The panic existed only in the newspapers of the 



44 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

country. But it was discovered that Big Business was 
was preparing to declare war on the new administra- 
tion. That was natural. It was what might have been 
expected. However, as the date for the inauguration 
approached, Governor Wilson's speeches became less 
specific, and more editorial lines were devoted to his 
character and integrity. His policies were clearly out- 
lined. He had settled convictions on the tariff, on cur- 
rency reform, and on anti-trust legislation. Beyond 
this, he spoke in general terms, and he came up to the 
fourth of March with a determination to correct these 
three evils. 

The agitation period had passed, and the constructive 
period had begun. His speech, accepting the nomina- 
tion, gave his analysis of conditions as they existed 
and his remedies for righting the wrongs from which 
the people suffered, and within less than two years 
after the assembling of his first Congress, these rem- 
edies had been written into law. Seldom in political 
history has the nation witnessed such a conjunction of 
promise and performance. To study what he promised 
to do, what he did do, and how he did it, constitutes 
a complete exposition of the processes of the Executive 
and Legislative Departments of government in Amer- 
ica; consequently, aside from the significance of the 
laws themselves, this period of President Wilson's ad- 
ministration will always be of engrossing interest to 
students of history. 



CHAPTER 1 1 r 
INAUGURATING THE NEW REGIME^ 

A groat President is made in the White House. No 
previous training is so complete, no knowledge is so 
comprehensive, and no experience has so functioned 
under the pressure of that peculiar responsibility as 
to enable even those gifted with a sense of prophecy to 
foretell with any degree of certainty the successes or 
failures of a new Executive. The nation had been 
deeply stirred by the great campaign which had ele- 
vated Woodrow Wilson to the Presidency, and after 
the heat of the contest and after the people had had 
the opportunity to take a calm view of the situation, 
men everywhere were asking this one question: What 
kind of President would be born in the White House 
on March 4, 1913? 

The Democratic party had been a protesting body 
for twenty years — protesting against the policies of 
the Republican party, which had been the official pol- 
icies of the nation. It had formed the protesting habit, 
which seemed to be its chief function and its main 
excuse for existing. But its protesls had, at last, be- 
come the adopted policies of the nation ; and, in a period 
of apparent national prosperity, this significant trans- 

45 



46 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

formation had taken place. It was quite evident, there- 
fore, that a new era was at hand, but its full meaning 
was distressingly obscure, and a feeling of pessimism 
pervaded the country where, heretofore, special priv- 
ilege, secure under the protection of the government, 
was so buoyant and optimistic. What did the change 
mean? Was the judgment day at hand? 

It was the fourth of March, 1913, that the business 
of America dreaded. But the day was at hand. An 
immense throng had gathered around the Capitol to 
see the old party, that had been in continuous power 
since the overthrow of slavery (with the exception of 
two short intervals), turn the government over to the 
party that had had so little voice in the government 
of the nation for a half century. But what did it all 
mean? 

The new-found leader took the oath to support the 
Constitution, and turning to the great out-of-doors and 
speaking to the people of the United States, he declared 
that he would answer the question "that is uppermost 
in our minds today." 

"There has been a change of government. It 
began two years ago, when the House of Repre- 
sentatives became Democratic by a decisive major- 
ity. It has now been completed. The Senate about 
to assemble will also be Democratic. The offices of 
President and Vice-President have been put into 



THE NEW REGIME 47 

the hands of Democrats. What docs the change 
mean ? That is the question that is uppermost in 
our minds today. That is the question I am going 
to try to answer, if I may, in order to interpret 
the occasion. 

"It means much more than the mere success of 
a party. The success of a party means little 
except when the nation is using that party for a 
large and definite purpose. No one can mistake 
the purpose for which the nation now seeks to use 
the Democratic party. It seeks to use it to inter- 
pret a change in its ow T n plans and point of view. 
Some old things with which we had grown familiar, 
and which had begun to creep into the very habit 
of our thought and of our lives, have altered their 
aspect as we have latterly looked critically upon 
them with fresh awakened eyes; have dropped 
their disguises and shown themselves alien and 
sinister. Some new things, as we look frankly 
upon them, willing to comprehend their real 
character, have come to assume the aspect of 
tilings long believed in and familiar, stuff of our 
own convictions. We have been refreshed by a 
new insight into our own life. 

"We see that in many things that life is very 
great. It is incomparably great in its material 



48 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

aspects, in its body of wealth, in the diversity and 
sweep of its energy, and in the industries which 
have been conceived and built up by the genius of 
individual men and the limitless enterprise of 
groups of men. It is great, also, very great, in its 
moral force. Nowhere else in the world have 
noble men and women exhibited in more striking 
forms the beauty and the energy of sympathy and 
of helpfulness and counsel in their efforts to 
rectify wrong, alleviate suffering, and set the weak 
in the way of strength and hope. We have built 
up, moreover, a great system of government, which 
has stood through a long age as in many respects 
a model for those who seek to set liberty upon 
foundations that will endure against fortuitous 
change, against storm and accident. Our life 
contains every great thing, and contains it in rich 
abundance. 

' ' But the evil has come with the good, and much 
fine gold has been corroded. With riches has come 
inexcusable waste. We have squandered a great 
part of what we might have used, and have not 
stopped to conserve the exceeding bounty of 
nature, without which our genius for enterprise 
would have been worthless and impotent, scorning 
to be careful, shamefully prodigal as well as 



THE NEW REGIME 49 

admirably efficient. We have been proud of our 
industrial achievements, but we have not hitherto 
stopped thoughtfully enough to count the human 
cost, the cost of lives snuffed out, of energies over- 
taxed and broken, the fearful physical and 
spiritual cost to the men and women and children 
upon whom the dead weight and burden of it all 
has fallen pitilessly the years through. The 
groans and agony of it all had not yet reached our 
ears, the solemn, moving undertone of our life, 
coming up out of the mines and factories and out 
of every home where the struggle had its intimate 
and familiar seat. With the great Government 
went many deep secret things which we too long- 
delayed to look into and scrutinize with candid, 
fearless eyes. The great Government we loved has 
too often been made use of for private and selfish 
purposes, and those who used it had forgotten 
the people. 

"At last a vision has been vouchsafed us of our 
life as a whole. We see the bad with the good, the 
debased and decadent with the sound and vital. 
With this vision we approach new affairs. Our 
duty is to cleanse, to reconsider, to restore, to 
correct the evil without impairing the good, to 
purify and humanize every process of our common 



50 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

life without weakening or sentimentalizing it. 
There has been something crude and heartless and 
unfeeling in our haste to succeed and be great. 
Our thought has been, 'Let every man look out 
for himself, let every generation look out for 
itself,' while we reared giant machinery which 
made it impossible that any, but those who stood 
at the levers of control should have a chance to 
look out for themselves. We had not forgotten 
our morals. We remembered well enough that we 
had set up a policy which was meant to serve the 
humblest as well as the most powerful, with an eye 
single to the standards of justice and fair play, 
and remembered it with pride. But we were very 
heedless and in a hurry to be great. 

' ' We have come now to the sober second thought. 
The scales of heedlessness have fallen from our 
eyes. We have made up our minds to square every 
process of our national life again with the 
standards we so proudly set up at the beginning, 
and have always carried at our hearts. Our work 
is a work of restoration. 

"We have itemized with some degree of par- 
ticularity the things that ought to be altered, and 
here are some of the chief items : A tariff which 
cuts us off from our proper part in the commerce 



THE NEW REGIME 51 

of the world, violates the just principles of taxa- 
tion, and makes the Government a facile instru- 
ment in the hands of private interests ; a banking 
and currency system based upon the necessity of 
the Government to sell its bonds fifty years ago 
and perfectly adapted to concentrating cash and 
restricting credits; an industrial system, which, 
take it on all sides, financial as well as admin- 
istrative, holds capital in leading strings, restricts 
the liberties and limits the opportunities of labor, 
and exploits without renewing or conserving the 
natural resources of the country; a body of agri- 
cultural activities never yet given the efficiency of 
great business undertakings or served as it should 
be through the instrumentality of sciences taken 
directly to the farm, or afforded the facilities of 
credit best suited to its practical needs; water 
courses undeveloped; waste places unreclaimed; 
forests untended, fast disappearing without plan 
or prospect of renewal ; unregarded waste heaps 
at every mine. We have studied as perhaps no 
other nation has the most effective means of pro- 
duction, but we have not studied cost or economy 
as we should either as organizers of industry, as 
statesmen, or as individuals. 

"Nor have we studied and perfected the means 



52 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

by which government may be put at the service of 
humanity, in safeguarding the health of the nation, 
the health of its men and its women and its 
children, as well as their rights in the struggle for 
existence. This is no sentimental duty. The firm 
basis of government is justice, not pity. These 
are matters of justice. There can be no equality 
of opportunity, the first essential of justice in the 
body politic, if men and women and children be 
not shielded in their lives, their very vitality, from 
the consequences of great industrial and social 
processes which they cannot alter, control, or 
singly cope with. Society must see to it that it 
does not itself crush or weaken or damage its own 
constituent parts. The first duty of law is to keep 
sound the society it serves. Sanitary laws, pure- 
food laws, and laws determining conditions of 
labor which individuals are powerless to determine 
for themselves are intimate parts of the very busi- 
ness of justice and legal efficiency. 

" These are some of the things that we ought 
to do, and not leave the others undone, the old- 
fashioned, never-to-be-neglected fundamental safe- 
guarding of property and of individual right. This 
is the high enterprise of the new day: To lift 
everything that concerns our life as a nation to the 



THE NEW REGIME 53 

light that shines from the hearth fire of every 
man's conscience and vision of the right. It is 
inconceivable that we should do this as partisans ; 
it is inconceivable that we should do it in ignorance 
of the facts as they are or in blind haste. We 
shall restore, not destroy. We shall deal with our 
economic system as it is, and as it may be modified, 
not as it might be if we had a clean sheet of paper 
to write upon; and step by step we shall make it 
what it should be, in the spirit of those who ques- 
tion their own wisdom and seek counsel and knowl- 
edge, not shallow self-satisfaction or the excite- 
ment of excursion whither they cannot tell. 
Justice, and only justice, shall always be our 
motto. 

1 'And yet it will be no cool process of mere 
science. The nation has been deeply stirred, 
stirred by a solemn passion, stirred by the knowl- 
edge of wrong, of ideals lost, of government too 
often debauched and made an instrument of evil. 
The feelings with which we face this new age of 
right and opportunity sweep across our heart- 
strings like some air out of God's own presence, 
where justice and mercy arc reconciled and the 
judge and the brother are one. We know our task 
to be no mere task of politics, but a task which 



54 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

shall search us through and through, whether we 
be able to understand our time and the need of 
our people, whether we be indeed their spokesmen 
and interpreters, whether we have the pure heart 
to comprehend and the rectified will to choose our 
high course of action. 

"This is not a day of triumph; it is a day of 
dedication. Here muster not the forces of party, 
but the forces of humanity. Men's hearts wait 
upon us; men's lives hang in the balance; men's 
hopes call upon us to say what we will do. Who 
shall live up to the great trust? Who dares fail 
to try! I summon all honest men, all patriotic, all 
forward-looking men, to my side. God helping me, 
I will not fail them, if they will but counsel and 
sustain me!" 

And this was his answer! He bowed to the great 
out-of-doors and left the rostrum. The anxious sea of 
humanity that had stood for a short time with up- 
turned faces and with ears eager to catch his words, now 
flowed toward Pennsylvania Avenue to see the newly 
created President of the United States move in state 
from the Capitol to the White House, and the next 
morning the world was commenting on his address. 

The American people seemed to appreciate the new 
note of freedom that was sounded, and it was the sense 



THE NEW RECIME 55 

of the groat body of the nation that if the President 
and his cabinet could but live and Avork in the spirit 
of that address, "squaring their conduct to its prin- 
ciples of unswerving justice and unselfish duty, we 
shall have indeed a great administration." There was 
little pessimism in the nation on March 5. Even a 
large number of Mr. Wilson's opponents, it was de- 
clared, "are now hopeful that he will succeed" and 
"the public conscience is ready to support any sound 
remedies for existing evils." 

The days of protest and warning were now over. The 
policy of the new administration was frankly laid bare 
in the Inaugural Address, and the important legislation 
needed to set the energies of the nation free were 
stated in a few words; and he could confidently hope 
that the nation would not turn a deaf ear to his mov- 
ing and solemn note of appeal. 

The circumstances that placed him at the head of 
the nation were unusual. He had received only about 
6,000,000 votes, while more than 8,000,000 had been cast 
for the other candidates. Lincoln was similarly elected 
in 1861. But the Civil "War united enough Republicans 
and Democrats to make him secure in his power. "No 
such civic convulsion will come to Wilson's aid," it was 
argued. "Only by following lines of peaceful and 
domestic policy can he hope to consolidate his political 
strength," and make himself the real Leader of tho 
nation. He was already recognized as a great writer 



56 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

and public speaker. But essays and orations stir other 
leaders to marshal their forces, and there is no limit 
"to the energizing of reform and the quickening of the 
human spirit." But would Woodrow Wilson combine 
with these two great qualities this most essential one — 
a great leader of the whole people? That was the 
question. 

Mr. Wilson 's first official act was the appointment of 
his cabinet, his official advisers. Although this act was 
a disappointment, somewhat, to many of his ardent 
supporters, it was not alleged that the appointments had 
been dictated to him or that there was the faintest trace 
of "boss rule" in connection with them. He was un- 
questionably making his own appointments. The senti- 
ment of the conservative minds of the country, more- 
over, was expressed by The Nation: "Bearing in mind 
the long exclusion of the Democratic party from power, 
and also the fact that Mr. Wilson decided not to weaken 
the narrow Democratic majority in the Senate by in- 
viting any of the abler men there to a seat in his Cab- 
inet, his final choice will, we think, be generally ad- 
mitted to be as wise as he could have made." If this 
was a positive compliment to the President, it was a 
doubtful one to the party in power. 

The first problem before the President was to unify 
the Executive and the Legislative powers in harmony. 
He was the head of the nation but an untried national 
leader. However, it was his prerogative to suggest 



THE NEW REGIME 57 

and apprise, and Congress to debate and enact. His 
preparation for such a responsible position was rather 
uncertain; and it was this uncertainty that was trou- 
bling many people, and many of them belonged to the 
legislative body of the nation. 

The country had grown accustomed to think of the 
Senate as an assemblage of "Conscript Fathers" pos- 
sessing great dignity. "Senatorial courtesy" is a dis- 
tinct reminder even today of the traditional sacredness 
of the rights of Senators to unlimited speech. More- 
over, it was then an historic evidence, entertained not 
only by the country at large but by the Senators them- 
selves, that the Senate was "the greatest deliberative 
body in the world." However, that body was under- 
going a great change. The upheaval that finally 
brought the Democratic party into power brought a 
change in the manner of electing United States Sen- 
ators. The Senate of the Sixty-third Congress was the 
last to be elected by the State Legislatures. 

On the last of May, 1913, the Secretary of State 
signed the formal announcement of the Seventeenth 
Amendment to the Constitution providing for the di- 
rect election of Senators. It was the last of the old 
regime, therefore, that Mr. Wilson found on the morn- 
ing after his inauguration, but it was an honored and 
honorable body. There were Senators of such large 
and successful experience that Woodrow Wilson was 
still a boy when they began to render such distinguished 



58 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

service to the country. Fifteen had been in the Senate 
for more than twelve years, and twenty-six had com- 
pleted more than six years. However, the new Presi- 
dent had never been a legislator. His mature life, save 
two years as Governor, had been spent in the school- 
room. Therefore, it was not a secret that the Senate 
and even the country at large had misgivings as to 
his power to guide such an honored and experienced 
body of statesmen. 

Moreover, the House of Representatives, a large and 
somewhat unwieldy body, composed of 440 members, 
represented all phases of our amalgamated life and 
interests. It, too, had among its leaders a group of 
men who had been in training almost a generation. 
Some had achieved national distinction when Woodrow 
Wilson was just beginning to attract attention as a 
teacher and interpreter of political economy. Two mem- 
bers of the House of Representatives, because of their 
distinguished service, were popular candidates for the 
Presidency when Mr. Wilson was nominated. Master 
tacticians, skillful strategists, and political ''war 
horses" were in charge of the House of Representatives 
on the 4th of March, 1913. Would the new President 
be able to organize them and direct them in this new 
course that was promised in the campaign and pro- 
posed on the day of his inauguration? Many people 
doubted it. Even the House of Representatives itself 
had some misgivings. 



THE NEW REGIME 59 

Monopoly must be destroyed ! This was the slogan 
during the campaign ; it was the subject of Mr. Wil- 
son 's utterances between his election and his inaugura- 
tion; and it was the heart of his inaugural address. 
But this dangerous dragon was too powerful and too 
deadly to be slain by the arm of a single knight, even 
though he were clothed with the strength of Sir Gal- 
ahad. Mr. Wilson had intimated that he would assem- 
ble Congress for the purpose of beginning his reforms. 
And men Avondered. 

The Democratic party had apparently lost the habit 
of cooperating as a unit. Moreover, it was argued that 
the Democratic party, although it had been protesting 
for a generation against abuses in the government, 
was, like the Republican party, so boss-ridden that no 
man could lead it as a unit against the wrongs that cried 
aloud for redress. Furthermore, it was believed that 
when a party long out of power comes into control of 
the government, it is possessed of an enthusiasm and 
a loyalty that gives it a certain degree of unity, and 
makes it for the moment amenable to wise leadership. 
But with continued power, more and more factional ism 
would appear and refractory spirits would obstruct the 
administration's policies. Then the old-time machine 
politicians would step into the breach and governmental 
processes would continue very much as in the past. 
And a degree of pessimism appeared in the hearts of 
honest men who were hopeful the day after the elec- 



60 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

tion that the new administration would ''effect a great 
readjustment and get the forces of the whole people 
once more into play. ' ' 

The destiny of this nation was completely in the 
hands of the Democratic party. This new guardian, 
having been out of power for so many years, and now 
being flushed with victory, was eager to take charge 
and begin the journey. On this point the Executive 
and the Legislative departments were in complete har- 
mony. The President's vision for "new freedom" for 
all Americans was clearly the vision of the party in 
control of Congress. Therefore, their purposes were 
identical. Such were the prospects on April 8, when 
the New Congress, in response to the President's call, 
met in special session. 



CHAPTER IV 

A NEW TARIFF: THE FIRST STAGE IN THE 
JOURNEY TO NEW FREEDOM 

President Wilson had been a close student of politics 
and of history in-the-making, for more than a quarter 
of a century. He was plainly aware of the fact that 
his greatest influence would, in all probability, be in 
the beginning of his administration. Therefore, it was 
no surprise to the nation when he called Congress to 
meet in special session so soon after his inauguration. 
Simultaneously, he announced that he would not be 
pestered with office seekers; that no office seeker aeed 
call on him except upon invitation, because he would 
devote his best thought and energies to the larger 
questions and those most vital to the country ; and the 
nation applauded this act as a promise of greater effi- 
ciency. 

The new life in the government was so vigorous that 
the thoughtful men of the country began to advise Big 
Business to adjust itself as soon as possible to a new 
tariff law, since it was evident that the Administration 
meant to act promptly, and it seemed to be morally 
certain that a new tariff law would be enacted. 

Gl 



62 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

Immediately after the call was issued for an extraor- 
dinary session of Congress committees from the House 
and Senate became very active studying rates and 
schedules and revenue. ''It will be little short of 
criminal for Big Business to wait until the new tariff 
law is a fact and then cry 'panic,' " was the warning 
to the business of the country. 

However, the vigor of the new life was so exhilarating 
that the public mind was drawn temporarily away from 
the great issue, and speculation was rife as to who 
would be the real leader of this incoherent Democratic 
party. Would any one man be able to unify it, make 
it coherent, and direct it as a disciplined body of 
trained workers capable of holding the safety of all 
the people in its grasp? Would a great leader be de- 
veloped and would the new Democratic administration 
be famous because of such a leader in Congress? Would 
the new President become such a leader? Or would 
the party disintegrate and wait for the old party to 
step back into power? Would a new party, like that 
that brought Jackson and Lincoln into the White House 
be formed? We were clearly at the beginning of a 
new era. Who would become the statesman of the 
hour ? 

Congress convened April 8, 1913. It had already 
been heralded abroad that President Wilson, in his 
first official relations to the newly assembled Congress, 
would overturn a century-old precedent by appearing 



A NEW TARIFF 63 

in person at the joint session of both Houses of Congress 
to deliver his first message. The practice, born of the 
British "Address from the Throne," was established 
in this country by Washington, continued by Adams, 
but abandoned by Jefferson, and for 112 years the 
Presidents had sent all their messages to Congress, 
most of which were unusually long and tiresome, to be 
read by clerks, while the members for the most part 
attended to other duties. 

Mr. Wilson, however, was serious in proposing to 
appear in person at the first session. He was advised 
that such an act would be revolutionary and would be 
resented by both Houses. The act would savor too 
much of the methods of a dictator; and it was the in- 
tention of the Fathers that the Executive and the Leg- 
islative departments should forever remain independent 
of each other. 

In anticipation of the event the galleries were 
crowded long before the appointed hour, and Capitol 
Hill was thronged with thousands unable to gain en- 
trance to the House of Representatives. The hour ar- 
rived, but there was some delay. It was a tense 
moment. Then the Senators filed in, thirty minutes 
late, in formal dress, dignified, some of them sullen. 
One Senator remarked that he hoped this would be the 
last time the Senate of the United States would be 
humiliated by being called to the House Chamber to 
receive a message from the "throne." The two Houses 



64 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

were now assembled. Then the President stepped in 
from a side door and took his place at the stand of the 
reading clerk. 

"Senators and Representatives!" exclaimed Mr. 
Speaker Clark, the presiding officer of the joint session, 
"I have the distinguished honor of presenting the Pres- 
ident of the United States. ' ' 

And after 112 years the voice of the Chief Executive 
of the United States was heard in the assembly hall 
of the greatest legislative body in the world. 

"Mr. Speaker, Mr. President, Gentlemen of the 
Congress : 

"I am very glad indeed to have this opportunity 
to address the two Houses directly, and to verify 
for myself the impression that the President of 
the United States is a person, not a mere depart- 
ment of the government hailing Congress from 
some isolated island of jealous power, sending 
messages, not speaking naturally and with his own 
voice, that he is a human being trying to cooperate 
with other human beings in a common service. 
After this pleasant experience I shall feel quite 
normal in all our dealings with one another." 

He had captured his audience, and no address within 
a centurv had received closer attention. Before the 



A NEW TARIFF 65 

astonishment of the moment had fully disappeared, In; 
had given Congress its first task to perform and had 
intimated that as soon as it was accomplished he would 
appear again. He said : 

"I have called the Congress together in ex- 
traordinary session because a duty was laid upon 
the party now in power at the recent elections 
which it ought to perform promptly, in order that 
the burden carried by the people under existing 
law may be lightened as soon as possible and in 
order, also, that the business interests of the 
country may not be kept too long in suspense as to 
what the fiscal changes are to be to which they 
will be required to adjust themselves. 

"It is clear to the whole country that the tariff 
duties must be altered. They must be changed to 
meet the radical alteration in the conditions of 
our economic life which the country has witnessed 
within the last generation. While the whole face 
and method of our industrial and commercial life 
were being changed beyond recognition, the tariff 
schedules have remained what they were before 
the change began, or have moved in the direction 
they were given when no large circumstance of 
our industrial development was what it is today. 
Our task is to square them with the actual facts. 



66 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

The sooner that is done the sooner we shall escape 
from suffering from the facts and the sooner our 
men of business will be free to thrive by the law 
of nature (the nature of free business) instead of 
by the law of legislation and artificial arrange- 
ment. 

"We have seen tariff legislation wander very 
far afield in our day — very far indeed from the 
field in which our prosperity might have had a 
normal growth and stimulation. No one who looks 
the facts squarely in the face or knows anything 
that lies beneath the surface of action can fail to 
perceive the principles upon which recent tariff 
legislation has been based. We long ago passed 
beyond the modest notion of 'protecting' the 
industries of the country and moved boldly for- 
ward to the idea that they were entitled to the 
direct patronage of the Government. For a long 
time — a time so long that the men now active in 
public policy hardly remember the conditions that 
preceded it — we have sought in our tariff schedules 
to give each group of manufacturers or producers 
what they themselves thought that they needed in 
order to maintain a practically exclusive market 
as against the rest of the world. 

"Consciously or unconsciously, we have built up 



A XKW TARIFF 67 

a set of privileges and exemptions from competi- 
tion behind which it was easy by any, even the 
crudest, forms of combination to organize monop- 
oly; until at last nothing is normal, nothing is 
obliged to stand the tests of efficiency and 
economy, in our world of Big Business, but every- 
thing thrives by concerted arrangement. Only 
new principles of action will save us from a final 
hard crystallization of monopoly and a complete 
loss of the influences that quicken enterprise and 
keep independent energy alive. 

''It is plain what those principles must be. We 
must abolish everything that bears even the 
semblance of privilege or of any kind of artificial 
advantage, and put our business men and pro- 
ducers under the stimulation of a constant neces- 
sity to be efficient, economical, and enterprising, 
masters of competitive supremacy, better workers 
and merchants than any in the world. Aside from 
the duties laid upon articles which we do not, and 
probably can not, produce, therefore, and the 
duties laid upon luxuries and merely for the sake 
of the revenues they yield, the object of the tariff 
duties henceforth laid must be effective competi- 
tion, the whetting of American wits by contest 
with the wits of the rest of the world. 



68 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

"It would be unwise to move toward this end 
headlong, with reckless haste, or with strokes that 
cut at the very roots of what has grown up 
amongst us by long process and at our own invita- 
tion. It does not alter a thing to upset it and 
break it and deprive it of a chance to change. It 
destroys it. We must make changes in our fiscal 
laws, in our fiscal system, whose object is develop- 
ment, a more free and wholesome development, 
not revolution or upset or confusion. We must 
build up trade, especially foreign trade. We need 
the outlet and the enlarged field of energy more 
than we ever did before. We must build up in- 
dustry as well, and must adopt freedom in the 
place of artificial stimulation only so far as it will 
build, not pull down. 

"In dealing with the tariff the method by which 
this may be done will be a matter of judgment, 
exercised item by item. To some not accustomed 
to the excitements and responsibilities of greater 
freedom our methods may in some respects and at 
some points seem heroic, but remedies may be 
heroic and yet be remedies. It is our business to 
make sure that they are genuine remedies. Our 
object is clear. If our motive is above just dial- 



A NEW TARIFF 69 

lenge and only an occasional error of judgment is 
chargeable against us, we shall be fortunate. 

"We are called upon to render the country a 
great service in more matters than one. Our 
responsibilities should be met and our methods 
should be thorough, as thorough as moderate and 
well considered, based upon the facts as they are, 
and not worked out as if we were beginners. We 
are to deal with the facts of our own day, with the 
facts of no other, and to make laws which square 
with those facts. It is best, indeed, it is necessary, 
to begin with the tariff. I will urge nothing upon 
you now at the opening of your session which can 
obscure that first object or divert our energies 
from that clearly defined duty. 

' ' At a later time I may take the liberty of calling 
your attention to reforms which should press close 
upon the heels of the tariff changes, if not accom- 
pany them, of which the chief is the reform of our 
banking and currency laws ; but just now I refrain. 
For the present, I put these matters on one side 
and think only of this one thing — of the changes 
in our fiscal system which may best serve to open 
once more the free channels of prosperity to a 
great people whom we would serve to the utmost 
and throughout both rank and file." 



70 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

When he had finished, he thrust the copy of his 
message into the inside pocket of his coat and, bowing 
to the audience, he said: "I sincerely thank you for 
your courtesy." 

At the end of the sentence the galleries gave a tre- 
mendous applause, and Senators and Members joined 
in with enthusiasm. And, while the audience was re- 
covering from the astonishment caused by his manner 
and the brevity of his message, he quietly withdrew 
from the Chamber, having demonstrated in an address 
of less than ten minutes his masterful skill and in- 
vincible magnetism, by first convincing and then cap- 
turing his critics. 

Whether the Democratic party and the nation had 
drawn a real leader, the astonished body did not yet 
know. He did not have the manner of a dictator, nor 
did he appear to be encroaching upon the ancient rights 
of the Legislative body. But, one thing was certain. 
The nation had a unique, if not an extraordinary cit- 
izen to deal with, since the conception of the act re- 
quired courage and to execute it called for great bold- 
ness. Moreover, there was a unanimous assent to the 
brevity of his message and the comments were very 
much in his favor, if the breaking of the ancient custom 
means that in the future these messages are to be 
"brief, direct, bold and fundamental, rather than 
merely legal arguments or statistical compends." But 



A NEW TARIFF 71 

the President's innovation meant more than that — he 
was attempting to establish human and personal rela- 
tions -with Congress, and a closer relationship between 
the Executive and Legislative powers was desirable for 
obvious reasons. 

Congress now had one task — to revise the tariff "in 
order that the burden carried by the people under ex- 
isting laws may be lightened as soon as possible and 
in order, also, that the business interests of the country 
may not be kept too long in suspense as to what the 
fiscal changes are to be to which they will be required 
to adapt themselves." 

Much of the preliminary work of revising the tariff 
schedule had already been done, and during the few 
weeks between the inauguration of the President and 
the assembling of Congress, the new tariff bill was 
drafted. Therefore, on the morning of the 8th of April, 
when Senators and Representatives were listening to 
the President's address, they had before them published 
copies of the new tariff bill Avhich was ready to be in- 
troduced. The people of the country read the pro- 
posed bill the day before they read the President's 
address. Therefore, there was no necessity for the 
President to go into details. He was discussing fun- 
damental principles. In this manner the nation was 
led from detail to general truths, and, to say the least, 
the President was pedagogical. And again the business 
men of the country were urged by the patriotic press to 



72 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

prepare themselves for the change and not to be caught 
like the foolish virgins unprepared for the event. 

There was something spectacular about the progress 
of the tariff bill through Congress. A steady campaign 
was waged throughout the nation for funds to main- 
tain a lobby and to create sentiment that might deter 
the work of the Representatives and Senators. The 
sugar interests made a "burning appeal" to the na- 
tion. The woolen interests, that had enjoyed protec- 
tion for so long, were panic-stricken and saw national 
disaster ahead if wool should be put on the free list. 
Cotton manufacturers felt the cold wind of ingratitude 
for the business they had built up, became disgusted 
with politics, and returned home when the tariff knife 
cut away a part of their protection. The "voice of 
reason" was heard in the land "protesting against un- 
due haste." The alarmist saw the Democratic party 
rushing to its doom and carrying in its wake disaster 
to the whole country. In the meantime a conference 
of the two wings of the Republican party was held for 
the purpose of getting together, although it was on the 
tariff that the party split. 

It soon became quite evident that Big Business, 
instead of preparing for the inevitable change, was 
making ready to fight it. And that "whispering sys- 
tem," the lobby, that the President had anathematized 
during the campaign, was quietly and very deter- 
minedly at work to circumvent every important reduc- 



A NEW TAK1I I 73 

tion of the tariff. ]\[orcovcr, in New Jersey, his own 
state, the legislature, in its efforts to control the trusts, 
was handicapped at every step. 

Mr. Wilson had declared before his inauguration 
that he meant to see business set free and the govern- 
ment dissolved from its co-partnership with monopoly. 
Moreover, he declared that he would fight for this 
"new freedom," and he added that he really liked a 
tight when it became necessary to fight. 

"There is only one canon of Americanism,' ' 
he said soon after Congress convened, "and the 
real, constant difficulty of American politics is to 
bring it back so that it will square with the 
standards set up at the first when the Revolution 
was fought out and an independent nation was 
established in America. We established an inde- 
pendent nation in order that men might enjoy a 
new kind of happiness and a new kind of dignity; 
that kind which a man has when he respects every 
other man's and woman's individuality as he re- 
spects his own ; when lie is not willing to draw 
distinctions between classes, when he is not willing 
to shut the door of privilege in the face of any 
one." 

But wherever he turned, that "invisible government" 
was deliberately at work, and ils chief executive, the 



74 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

politician boss, that self-appointed trustee, was busy 
in the national capital as well as in the state capitals 
to bar the "door of privilege" and destroy the first 
canon of Americanism. The President's attack on the 
political boss was well planned. The opening assault 
was made in his own state, where he declared in very 
strong terms that that "whispering system" must va- 
cate and give democracy a chance. 

"The people of this country and of this State 
are going to have what they know they ought to 
have by one process or another," he said. "I 
pray that it may not be a wrong process. I do 
not myself believe that dangerous things will 
happen. But I want to warn these men (the 
bosses) not too long to show the people of this 
country that justice cannot be got by the ordinary 
processes of law. I warn them to stand out of the 
sovereign w r ay. 

"I have traveled from one end of this country 
to the other. I have looked into the faces of many 
audiences. I have never seen any symptoms that 
men were going to kick over the traces of the laws 
they have made, but I have seen a great majesty 
seated upon their countenances, and infinite 
patience. Thus they are sitting now." 

Then he issued a warning for all men to heed: 



A NEW TARIFF 75 

''This is the test; this is the trial; this is the 
ultimate seat of judgment, and if these men will 
not serve the people, they will be swept away like 
chaff before the wind. Other men more honest, 
more active, more wholesome, with the freshness 
of a new age upon them, with eyes that see the 
country as it is — men who are cool and thoughtful 
and determined — will go to the front and lead the 
people to the day of victory. 

"Then America will be crowned with a new 
wreath of self-revelation and of self-discovery, 
and these creatures will have disappeared like the 
dust in the wheels of the chariot of God. It is this 
hope, it is this confidence that keeps the President 
of the United States alive. It is this confidence 
that makes it good to come back to New Jersey 
and fight for the old cause." 

In this connection he declared also that he was the 
President of the people of the United Slates. "1 am 
not the servant of the Democratic party," he said. 
"I am the servant of the people, acting through the 
Democratic party, which has now undertaken some 
of the most solemn obligations thai a party ever under- 
took, for it has stepped forward at a moment of uni- 
versal disappointment and said, 'We pledge you our 



76 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

honor as men and as patriots that you shall not be dis- 
appointed again.' " 

He knew that the same "whispering system" was at 
work in the national capital. There were men without 
any visible occupation who lived well in Washington 
hotels and professed to have political influence at their 
disposal. Moreover, there were agents who supplied 
the press with advertisements and newspaper articles. 
Groups of people were organized in many states whose 
business it was to flood the Representatives and Sen- 
ators with letters from "down home," with the purpose 
of frightening timid members of Congress and thus 
defeating the Administration's tariff plans. The Pres- 
ident's New Jersey speeches created a little excitement. 
But when he returned to Washington, he had only to 
watch the same agencies at work. 

The month of May was nearly gone. Congress had 
been in session about six weeks, and the tariff bills, 
which were ready to be considered by the House at 
the opening session, had made considerable progress. 
However, obstruction after obstruction was placed in 
the way of the Members. The President had already 
declared that the people of this country are going to 
have, by one process or another, what they know they 
ought to have. Therefore, he warned the bosses "to 
stand out of the sovereign way." And instead of 
heeding this warning, they seemed to be so strongly 
intrenched that they dared to defy the Administration. 



A NEW TARIFF 77 

A reformed tariff in accordance with Democratic 
principles was the first step in his "new freedom." 
It was the beginning of his Americanism, and the evi- 
dence that this "whispering system," these self- 
appointed trustees, were undertaking to say what kind 
of a tariff bill the nation should have, threw him into 
a rage. Therefore, on May 26, he spoke some plain 
words about the pressure of selfish interests upon Con- 
gress to defeat the moderate reduction of tariff pro- 
posed by the Underwood bill : 

"I think that the public ought to know," he said, 
"the extraordinary exertions being made by the 
lobby in Washington to gain recognition for cer- 
tain alterations of the tariff bill. Washington 
has seldom seen so numerous, so industrious, or so 
insidious a lobby. The newspapers are being rilled 
with paid advertisements circulated to mislead not 
only the judgment of public men, but also the 
public opinion of the country itself. There is 
every evidence that money without limit is being- 
spent to maintain this lobby, and to create an ap- 
pearance of a pressure of public opinion antagon- 
istic to some of the chief items of the tariff bill. 

"It is of serious interest to the country that the 
people at large should have no lobby and be voice- 
loss in these matters, while great bodies of astute 



78 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

men seek to create an artificial opinion and to 
overcome the interests of the public for their 
private profit. It is thoroughly worth the while 
of the people of this country to take knowledge of 
this matter. Only public opinion can check and 
destroy it. 

' ' The government in all its branches ought to be 
relieved from this intolerable burden and this 
constant interruption to the calm progress of 
debate. I know that in this I am speaking for the 
members of the two Houses, who would rejoice as 
much as I would, to be released from this unbear- 
able situation." 

It was evidently no coincidence that this attack on 
the lobbyists came when the tariff bill, which had been 
under consideration for nearly three months, was on 
the eve of being reported to the Finance Committee as 
a whole in order that the Caucus of Democratic 
Senators might pass on it. If the lobbyists were plan- 
ning- at that time a great attack on the bill, the Presi- 
dent so timed his remarks as to create consternation 
among them, and then he was accused of using all the 
privilege and authority of his party leadership in order 
to rush ''an important piece of legislation through 
Congress." The Senate at once asked for an investiga- 
tion. Mr. Wilson said lie could furnish names of leading 



A NEW TARIFF 79 

lobbyists. "A lobby in Washington; the idea!" and 
they ridiculed the President and even called him a 
lobbyist. But he had seen the public with a "great 
majesty seated upon their countenances and an infinite 
patience." 

He had already declared that he would admit of 
no compromise on any of the vital points of the bill as 
it passed the House. His positive manner as well as 
his courage made the party leaders more than ever 
determined to carry out their party pledge of moderate 
and cautious tariff reduction, and even vacillating 
Senators renewed their courage. However, there were 
those who broke from the party ranks and^ became 
desperate in their opposition to the bill. The fight 
became so exhilarating that Republicans and Progres- 
sives entered the lists enthusiastically and lined up on 
both sides of the issue. It was indeed a great fight, 
and no man in any business "could have more rigidly 
kept office hours or displayed more industry" than 
President Wilson did. His personal wishes were 
stamped everywhere upon the bill and his leadership 
became so marked that manufacturers and all high 
protective tariff advocates were warned again to make 
their business ready for the change that seemed to be 
inevitable. 

When he hurled his attack against the lobbyists he 
was called a "dictator" and when he refused to yield 
to the demands of the manufacturers, they spoke of 



80 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

"the pale lean scholar in the White House" whose 
ignorance of business conditions will wreck the coun- 
try. However, the startling revelations that came up 
from the lobby investigation brought convincing evi- 
dence of an "iniquitous invisible government," and the 
methods of Big Business were in disrepute before 
the country. Therefore, the mighty interests who had 
defied the people's will for so many years felt them- 
selves caught in the grip of a Master, and they now 
appealed to him personally to withdraw the knife from 
the old tariff schedule and save the country from 
financial ruin. 

"All business is in a halting attitude because all 
business seems to be more or less the subject of legis- 
lative control," they pleaded. Then the great Frisco 
Railway system went into the hands of a receiver. 
"Business needs emancipation from legislative influ- 
ence. It has been punished until it is a nervous wreck," 
they complained. And the President assured them 
that it was his great ambition to emancipate business 
from legislative influence and throw it back on its 
own initiative. But this was not the assurance that 
was desired, and "mutterings of a silent panic" were 
heard in the land. Then a large trust company failed, 
and tight money, decline of stocks, and great business 
depression became the topics of conversation in the 
streets, in the clubs, around the capitol, and in the 
committee rooms. 



A NEW TARIFF 81 

If these things were so in an era of great prosperity, 
the President argued, then new currency legislation 
was absolutely necessary and should be pressed imme- 
diately. What did the man mean? His administration 
was not three months old, it was argued, yet his tariff 
agitation was already producing hard times, and now 
he would start another agitation that would simply 
knock the bottom out of everything, and Big Business 
tumbled headlong into the bine shadows. 

Dignified Senators and Members smiled at the 
thought of attempting to pass two such important 
measures with summer already at hand. The nation's 
representatives could not be expected to swelter in 
Washington all through "dog days" while others were 
reveling in the invigorating sea breezes or relaxing 
under the influence of the cool mountain air. However, 
Mr. Wilson, on June 23, did appear the second time 
before Congress; and this time, to ask the Members 
and Senators, now that the tariff bill was moving for- 
ward so satisfactorily, to prepare to take the second 
step just as soon as the tariff bill was out of the way. 
But this second step will be discussed in the next 
chapter. 

However. Mr. Wilson had stalled two great meas- 
ures through Congress, and this too, at a time 
when many Senators and Members were t hinkin g of 
adjourning for the summer. It was argued that they 
could go away during the hot months, recuperate, and 



82 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

return ill the fall. In this way they would be able to 
complete both bills, certainly the tariff bill, before the 
beginning of the first regular session of the 63rd 
Congress in December. 

When it was first rumored that Senators and Mem- 
bers wished to adjourn for the summer, Mr. Wilson 
urged them quietly and calmly to pass both the tariff 
and the currency bills during the special session. That, 
of course, was asking entirely too much, many thought. 
But they argued that they could pass the tariff bill by 
August and under the strange influence that was 
emanating from the White House they got down to 
business. 

The summer was by no means dull and monotonous. 
The revelations that came from the investigation of 
the "iniquitous whispering system" that had influ- 
enced legislation in the past and was encamped around 
the Capitol for the purpose of defeating both the tariff 
and the currency bills, acted as a tonic to the nation 
and a stimulus to Congress. Even in the midst of the 
summer heat when Senators and Members were chafing 
under pressure brought to bear on them, the rout of 
the lobbyist, and the example of the President, dis- 
playing such unparalleled industry, gave an impulse 
and a sustained force to Congress which made legisla- 
tion that seemed impossible only a few weeks before, 
not only seem possible now but certain. 

In the meantime the old Democratic party, with a 



A NEW TARIFF 83 

reputation for factions and dissensions, was giving 
evidence of team work thai was a surprise to its mem- 
bers as well as to their partisan opponents. What 
great influence was at work? No man could actually 
define it, but its source was traced to the White House. 

The tariff bill had a good road ahead and as obstruc- 
tions began to vanish Congress acquired new courage 
and the momentum increased. Not even wool and 
sugar could escape the knife. The few insurgents left 
in the party were desperate and the press was con- 
stantly proclaiming that they would defeat the bill. 
However, it did pass the House by a tremendous 
majority. But that was expected. Then it went to 
the Senate, and many confidently said that it would 
never pass that bod}-, since the Democratic majority 
was so small, and insurgents had already appeared that 
made the defeat practically certain. 

Here, again, the influence of the President was felt 
and when there was an effort to weaken the bill in the 
Senate, a Democratic Caucus of the Senate was called, 
early in July, and it resolved, ''That the tariff bill 
agreed to by this conference in its amended form is 
declared to be a party measure, and we urge it s 
undivided support as a duty by Democratic Senators 
without amendment, provided, however, that Hie Con- 
ference or the Finance Committee may, after reference 
or otherwise, propose amendments to the bill." 

A door was left open to reasonable amendments, but 



84 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

the action of every Democratic Senator now became a 
matter of party honor. The work of revising the 
schedule continued throughout the month of July, and, 
barring a few partisan papers that were avowedly in 
favor of protection, the public expression showed 
signs of a revival of industry and of trade, and the 
demands that came up to Congress for a new protective 
tariff law were becoming more and more insistent. 

There was too much energy in the nation for indus- 
tries "to crumble into ruins," and the growing revival 
in business was too real for labor "to groan under the 
depression. ' ' The press of the country began to carry 
new headlines, "The Tariff Bill will Certainly Pass," 
and the business of the country went to work seriously 
to adjust itself to the inevitable. Like the foolish 
virgins, however, they had slumbered and slept and 
dreamt of anything else but a marriage feast. And 
the readjustment was at hand. On September 9, the 
bill passed the Senate with certain minor amendments 
that had to be concurred in by the House. 

How had it been accomplished? At the first, Mr. 
Wilson unveiled his purpose to have an active part 
in law-making not by coercion, by threats, nor by 
bluster, but by wise leadership. His methods were 
unique. First committees of the House and Senate, the 
real leaders of Congress, began the preparation of a 
bill. Then it was discussed by the people at large. 
Everybody discussed it. Mr. Wilson was a firm believer 



A NEW TARIFF 85 

ill the force of public opinion which ho repeatedly 
declared "is the mistress of the world." Then he 
sat quietly and watched public opinion form while "the 
whispering system" and "the self appointed trustees" 
were holding "inside room" conferences and planning 
to impose their selfish schemes upon Congress. 

"The people know what they want," he declared 
and Congress felt an irresistible force driving them 
forward. It was the spirit of the people at work guided 
by a master hand who was adopting the strangest 
political tactics that Congress had ever Avitnessed. 
With this instrument in his hand he was almost 
invincible. The final passage of the bill seemed so 
ridiculously simple and the familiarity with this epoch- 
making piece of legislation was so general that the 
intense struggle for six months was almost forgotten 
as opposition melted away. "Why, it actually appeared 
that the country was really waiting for Congress cheer- 
fully to hand over the completed bill. There was 
less grumbling then by all parties than by his own 
party when he first made his appearance in the capitol 
and overturned a century old precedent by addressing 
Congress. But the united efforts of the Executive and 
Legislative powers had triumphed over the most power- 
ful forces ever at work in the nation's capital. The 
President and Congressional leaders had learned to 
work together. Eternal vigilance on the part of both 



86 WOODKOW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

was the price that was paid for this first important 
piece of legislation. 

On the day of the passage of the bill by the Senate, 
Mr. Wilson issued a public statement which showed 
how keenly he appreciated the work of the two Houses. 
He said : 

"A fight for the people and for free business 
which has lasted a long generation through has 
at last been won, handsomely and completely. A 
leadership and a steadfastness in counsel has been 
shown in both Houses, of which the Democratic 
party has reason to be proud. There has been no 
weakness or confusion in drawing back, but a 
statesmanlike directness and command of cir- 
cumstances. 

"I am happy to have been connected with the 
Government of the nation at a time when such 
things could happen and to have worked in asso- 
ciation with men who could do them. There is 
every reason to believe that currency reform will 
be carried through with equal energy, directness, 
and loyalty to the general interest. 

"When that is done, this first session of the 
Sixty-third Congress will have passed into history 
with an unrivalled distinction. I want to express 
my special admiration for the devoted, intelligent, 



A NEW TARIFF 87 

and untiring work of Mr. Underwood and Mr. Sim- 
mons, and the committee associated with them!" 

Nearly a month elapsed, however, after the Senate 
passed the bill before the two Houses could agree on 
the amended parts and pass it in its completed form. 
And on the evening of Friday, October 3, committees 
from both the Senate and the House carried the results 
of their labors to the President for his approval. He 
waited until the close of the business for the day in 
order that, since the act was to take effect immediately, 
it might become operative on the opening of business 
on the morning of October 4. After fixing his signa- 
ture to the bill which goes into history as the Under- 
wood-Simmons bill, he said : 

"I feel a very peculiar pleasure in what I have 
just done by way of taking part in the completion 
of a great piece of business. It is a pleasure which 
is very hard to state in words adequate to express 
the feeling, because the feeling that I have is that 
we have done the rank and file of the people of 
this country a great service. 

"It is hard to speak of these things without 
seeming to go off into campaign eloquence, but 
that is not my feeling. It is one very profound — 
a feeling of profound gratitude that working with 



88 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

the splendid men who have carried this thing 
through with studious attention and doing justice 
all round, I should have had part in serving the 
people of this country as we have been striving to 
serve them ever since I can remember. 

"I have had the accomplishment of something 
like this at heart ever since I was a boy, and I know 
men standing around me can say the same thing — 
who have been waiting to see the things done which 
it was necessary to do in order that there might 
be justice in the United States. And so it is a sol- 
emn moment that brings such a business to a 
conclusion, and I hope I w T ill not be thought to be 
demanding too much of myself or of my colleagues 
when I say that this, great as it is, is the accom- 
plishment of only half the journey. 

"We have set the business of this country free 
from those conditions which have made monopoly 
not only possible, but in a sense easy and natural. 
But there is no use taking away the conditions of 
monopoly if we do not take away also the power 
to create monopoly, and that is a financial rather 
than a merely circumstantial and economical 
power. 

' ' The power to control and guide and direct the 
credits of the country is the power to say who shall 



A NEW TARIFF 89 

and who shall not build up the industries of the 
country, in which direction they shall be built, and 
in which direction they shall not be built. We are 
now about to take the second step, which will b<> 
the final step in setting the business of this coun- 
try free. 

"That is what we shall do in the Currency Bill, 
which the House has already passed, and which 
I have the utmost confidence the Senate will pass 
much sooner than some pessimistic individuals be- 
lieve. Because the question — now that this piece 
of work is done — will arise all over the country, 
'For what do we wait? Why should we wait to 
crown ourselves with consummate honor? Are 
we so self-denying that we do not wish to complete 
our success?' 

"I was quoting the other day to some of my 
colleagues in the Senate those lines from Shake- 
speare's Henri/ V, which have always appealed to 
me: 'If it be a sin to covet honor, then am I the 
most offending soul alive;' and I am happy to say 
that I do not covet it for myself alone. 

"I covet it with equal ardor for the men who 
are associated with me, and the honor is going 
to come for them. I am their associate. I can 
only complete the work which they do. I can only 



<JQ WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

counsel when they ask for my counsel. I can come 
in only when the last stages of the business are 
reached. 

"And I covet this honor for them quite as 
much as I covet it for myself. And I covet it for 
the great party of which I am a member ; because 
that party is not honorable unless it redeems its 
name and serves the people of the United States. 

"So I feel tonight like a man who is lodging 
happily in the inn which lies half way along the 
journey and that in the morning with a fresh im- 
pulse we shall go the rest of the journey and sleep 
at the journey's end like men with quiet con- 
sciences, knowing that we have served our fellow 
men, and have, thereby, tried to serve God." 



CHAPTER V 

A NEW CURRENCY— THE SECOND STAGE IN 
THE JOURNEY 

The tariff bill moved so smoothly through the House 
that the President decided, early in May, to press cur- 
rency reform without delay. His prestige and influence 
at that time was very great, and it was said that "he 
is gradually imparting to the American forms of 
government a smoothness and flexibility it had hitherto 
lacked." There was no question now as to his leader- 
ship. Therefore, when the nation realized that he was 
determined to press a second great reform he was ad- 
vised to move with care and deliberation, since a 
change in the currency was more dreaded by a certain 
element in the nation than a reduction in the tariff. 

The banking law in force was enacted during the 
Civil War and was a war measure. The Government, 
in order to secure money to prosecute the war, had to 
issue bonds which it found difficult to sell. It was 
provided, therefore, that the banks might take the 
bonds and issue bank notes based upon them. This 
expedient solved the problem and was a sound tem- 
porary measure. However, it was a very inflexible 

91 



92 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

system and one that could not adapt itself to the 
changing needs of trade. Moreover, there was no 
central institution which could aid in mobilizing the 
resources of the country to meet the requirements of 
an active trade or of a credit crisis. 

More than half a century had passed since the 
original law was enacted. Since that time the nation 
had been made over again. A new industrial era had 
appeared ; new business methods were employed ; and a 
new currency was needed. The bankers of the nation 
had pointed out these serious defects, and several 
attempts had been made to remedy them. The political 
parties admitted that reform was absolutely necessary, 
and the American Bankers' Association had signified 
its willingness to cooperate with any party that would 
attempt to give this country relief. 

The old banking laAvs were not only out of date, but 
they were a menace to the entire country. They could 
be used by a small group of bankers to tie up the 
money market and produce a panic. Instead of the 
nation's controlling the currency for the benefit of all, 
a few money barons controlled it ; and they were as 
jealous of this power as if they had received it through 
a special dispensation of providence. The small banks 
of the towns and villages were absolutely at their 
mercy, and there was neither justice nor freedom in 
the flow of the money currents. The money barons 
caused the panic of 1907 at a time of great national 



A NEW CURRENCY 93 

prosperity, and the investigations of the Pujo Commit- 
tee brought out the fact that it was possible at almost 
any time for a certain small group of bankers to 
produce another panic and the entire treasury and 
resources of the United States were helpless to avoid it. 
Almost every well informed person admitted these 
facts. The Avhole country demanded the reform except 
the small group of money barons who were in power, 
and a short time before, the nation witnessed the 
spectacle of Congress attempting to correct the evil, 
but permitting these autocrats virtually to write the 
bill. No one expected that they would dethrone 
themselves. 

President Wilson, however, announced that a new 
era was at hand, that the nation demanded currency 
reform, and that this reform would come. These words 
were vigorously applauded. However, when he showed 
a determination to act at once and to throw the united 
party behind the movement to correct the evils com- 
plained of, the business of the country was afflicted 
with a sinking of the heart, and the bankers advised 
Congress in the most solemn tones to have a care. A 
habit of fifty years was about to be broken, and the 
nervous system was afraid of the shock. 

The country was not yet accustomed to the habits of 
the new Chief Executive. He neither initiated legisla- 
tion nor discussed the details of any measure in his 
public addresses. It was his policy to remind the 



94 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

Democrats of their promises and to urge Congress to 
act as promptly as possible. He was an executive, not 
a legislator. His calling Congress in extra session as 
soon as possible and reminding the Democrats that 
they were in honor bound to reform the tariff, was 
within his province as an executive. But, he had little 
to say in his message about the methods of reducing 
rates. 

It soon became a certainty that the President ex- 
pected Congress to give the needed currency reform, 
and that too without delay. The Senate and House 
Committees were already very active, and the country 
was nervous. A variety of expedients and plans were 
submitted to Congress. That body was urged to be 
on guard against the insidious influence of Wall Street, 
the pressure of the Western farmers, the provincialism 
of the Southern Cotton Conventions, and the unwar- 
ranted urgencies of the Stock Exchange. In other 
words, every possible danger or imagined evil that 
might follow a change in the currency law was held 
up to public gaze, with the purpose of forcing Congress 
to move deliberately and cautiously. The nation 
earnestly desired reform, but was really afraid of 
haste. 

The spring of 1913 was unusually exciting from a 
political standpoint. If the fight on the tariff could 
not provide a sensation, rumors of a hastily hatched 
up currency law could produce the desired excitement. 



A NEW CURRKXt 5 95 

It was the habit of business to become panicky while 
the tariff was under discussion. But to think of a 
Democratic Administration in the act of passing an 
anti-protective tariff bill and at the same time pressing 
a bill for currency reform was more than the public 
could really assimilate without a considerable jolt to 
its entire nervous system. But the President was a 
good psychologist. After the country had discussed 
the defects of the old law and suggested innumerable 
remedies, he appeared at the Capitol on the morning of 
June 23, and before the joint session of the two 
Houses, advised them to move up to the second stage 
of the journey to the New Freedom. His second ap- 
pearance before the Senate and Members established 
the habit, and he could now talk to them directly 
instead of "hailing Congress from some isolated posi- 
tion of jealous power." 

''It is under the compulsion of what seems to 
me a clear and imperative duty," he began, "that 
I have a second time this session sought the priv- 
ilege of addressing you in person. I know, of 
course, that the heated season of the year is upon 
us, that work in these chambers and in the com- 
mittee rooms is likely to become a burden as the 
season lengthens, and that every consideration of 
personal convenience and personal comfort, per- 



96 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

haps, in the cases of some of us, considerations of 
personal health even, dictate an early conclusion 
of the deliberations of the session; but there are 
occasions of public duty when these things which 
touch us privately seem very small ; when the work 
to be done is so pressing and so fraught with big 
consequences that we know that we are not at 
liberty to weigh against it any point of personal 
sacrifice. We are now in the presence of such an 
occasion. 

' ' It is absolutely imperative that we should give 
the business men of this country a banking and 
currency system by means of which they can make 
use of the freedom of enterprise and of individual 
initiative which we are about to bestow upon them. 
We are about to set them free ; we must not leave 
them without the tools of action when they are 
free. We are about to set them free by removing 
the trammels of protective tariff. Ever since the 
Civil War they have waited for this emancipation 
and for the free opportunities it will bring with 
it. It has been reserved for us to give it to them. 
Some fell in love, indeed, with slothful security of 
their dependence upon the Government ; some took 
advantage of the shelter of the nursery to set up a 
mimic mastery of their own within its walls. Now 



A NEW CURRENCY 97 

both tho tonic and discipline of liberty and matur- 
ity are about to ensue. 

"There will be some readjustments of purpose 
and point of view. There will follow a period of 
expansion and new enterprise, freshly conceived. 
It is for us to determine now whether it shall be 
rapid and facile and of easy accomplishment. This 
it cannot be unless the resourceful business men 
who are to deal with the new circumstances are to 
have in hand and ready to use the instrumentalities 
and the conveniences of free enterprise which in- 
dependent men need when acting on their own 
initiative. 

"It is not enough to strike the shackles from 
business. The duty of statesmanship is not neg- 
ative merely. It is constructive also. We must 
show that we understand what business needs and 
that we know how to supply it. No man, however 
casual and superficial his observation of the con- 
ditions now prevailing in the country, can fail to 
see that one of the chief things business needs now, 
and will need increasingly as it gains in scope and 
vigor in the years immediately ahead of us, is the 
proper means by which readily to vitalize its 
credit, corporate and individual, and its origina- 
tive brains. "What will it profit us to be free if we 



98 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

are not to have the best and most accessible in- 
strumentalities of commerce and enterprise ? 
What will it profit us to be quit of one kind of 
monopoly if we are to remain in the grip of an- 
other and more effective kind? How are we to 
gain and keep the confidence of the business com- 
munity unless w T e show that we know how both to 
aid and protect it? What shall we say if we make 
fresh enterprise necessary and also make it very 
difficult by leaving all else except the tariff just 
as we found it? 

"The tyrannies of business, big and little, lie 
within the field of credit. We know that. Shall 
we not act upon the knowledge? Do we not know 
how to act upon it? If a man cannot make his as- 
sets available at pleasure, his assets of capacity 
and character and resource, what satisfaction is 
it to him to see opportunity beckoning to him on 
every hand, when others have the key of credit in 
their pockets and treat them as all but their own 
private possession? It is perfectly clear that it 
is our duty to supply the new banking and cur- 
rency system the country needs, and it will need 
it immediately more than it has ever needed it 
before. 

"The only question is, When shall we supply 



A NEW CURRENCY 99 

it — now, or later, after the demands shall have 
become reproaches that we were so dull and so 
slow? Shall we hasten to change the tariff laws 
and then be laggards about making it easy and 
possible for the country to take advantage of the 
change? There can be only one answer to that 
question. We must act now, at whatever sacrifice 
to ourselves. It is a duty which the circumstances 
forbid us to postpone. I should be recreant to my 
deepest convictions of public obligation did I not 
press it upon you with solemn and urgent 
insistence. 

"The principles upon which w r e should act are 
also clear. The country has sought and seen its 
path in this matter within the last few years — 
seen it more clearly now than it ever saw it be- 
fore — much more clearly than when the last legis- 
lative proposals on the subject were made. We 
must have a currency, not rigid as now, but read- 
ily, elastically responsive to sound credit, the ex- 
panding and contracting credits of everyday 
transactions, the normal ebb and flow of personal 
and corporate dealings. Our banking laws must 
mobilize reserves ; must not permit the concentra- 
tion anywhere in a few hands of the monetary re- 
sources of the country or their use for speculative 



100 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

purposes in such volume as to hinder or impede 
or stand in the way of other more legitimate, more 
fruitful uses. And the control of the system of 
banking and of issue which our new laws are to 
set up must be public, not private, must be vested 
in the Government itself, so that the banks may 
be the instruments, not the masters, of business 
and of individual enterprise and initiative. 

' ' The committees of the Congress to which legis- 
lation of this character is referred have devoted 
careful and dispassionate study to the means of 
accomplishing these objects. They have honored 
me by consulting me. They are ready to suggest 
action. I have come to you as the head of the 
Government and the responsible leader of the 
party in power, to urge action now, while there is 
time to serve the country deliberately and as we 
should, in a clear air of common council. I appeal 
to you with a deep conviction of duty. I believe 
that you share this conviction. I therefore appeal 
to you with confidence. I am at your service with- 
out reserve to play my part in any way you may 
call upon me to play it in this great enterprise of 
exigent reform which it will dignify and distin- 
guish us to perform and discredit us to neglect." 



A NEW CURRENCY 101 

This deliverance, like his tariff message, was so unlike 
all former Presidential messages that a new category 
is necessary to give it the proper classification. It 
was an appeal to the patriotism of the Representatives 
and Senators, not a message. He had answered all 
the complaints that had come up from members who 
wished to avoid the irksome days of the summer 
months. He was appealing to them to think more of 
the party promises than of their personal comfort. He 
was reasoning with them that the tariff law should be 
accompanied with a sound currency law if they would 
escape the criticism that might justly arise from the 
business of the country. He was pleading with them 
to prove to the nation that the Democratic party 
"understands what business needs" and "knoAvs how 
to supply it"; and finally, he was urging Representa- 
tives and Senators to act at once and with deliberation. 
And it was this "act at once" that business feared. 

The delivery of this second appeal to Congress occu- 
pied exactly nine minutes, and it is interesting to note 
that in both of his addresses to Congress he did not 
discuss or analyze the important measures that were 
to be considered by Congress. In each instance he did 
not address Congress until that body was ready to act 
on the measures and after the public had been dis- 
cussing them for weeks. It was very evident that Mr. 
Wilson was creating a new precedent. 

Presidents' messages hitherto had been formal treatises 



102 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

on subjects already well known to the people. They 
had become too formal to be really interesting. But 
in this second address Mr. Wilson had departed again 
from the old custom. He, the Executive of the nation, 
was simply calling the attention of Representatives 
and Senators, the Legislative body of the nation, to a 
specific evil — one at a time — and was requesting that 
body to remedy the evil. The Executive was in no 
sense outlining any currency bill or suggesting any of 
the details of the bill. That was the prerogative of the 
Legislative department. He was earnestly and solemnly 
advising the Senators and Representatives to act at 
once, " while there is time to serve the country 
deliberately." A few days later he was in Conference 
with Senators and representatives of the American 
Bankers' Association. 

The need of prompt action was strongly stated by 
Mr. Carter Glass, Chairman of the House Committee on 
Banking and Currency. He said : 

"For more than a quarter of a century it has been 
realized in this country that there were radical de- 
ficiencies in our banking and currency system, and for 
at least twenty years there have been repeated efforts 
made to correct these defects. We have been for that 
period of time the scoff and the ridicule, not only of 
the practical banker, but of the scientists and text- 
book writers of Europe. Our own thinkers, who have 
given study to the question, have repeatedly pointed 



A NEW CURRENCY 103 

out to the Congress that we were operating under an 
antiquated and out-of-date banking and currency sys- 
tem, and that we had prosperity in America in spite 
of, rather than because of, our banking and currency 
system." 

It was generally agreed that the reserve funds of 
the country gradually found their way into the vaults 
of the great banks of the country — chiefly of New 
York, "there to be thrown into the maelstrom of stock 
speculation," and when the business of the country 
needed these funds for local use, the large centers so 
controlled the reserve that the entire country was at 
the mercy of the large bankers ; and in times of depres- 
sion or panic the country was least responsive when it 
should be most responsive. This was not a party com- 
plaint ; it was a national evil. The task of the Admin- 
istration, therefore, was threefold : 

1. To shift the whole currency of the nation from 
the basis on which it had rested for more than a half 
century; namely, United States bonds, which was the 
indebtedness of the nation, to the commercial assets 
of the business of the country. The first was limited, 
the second was virtually illimitable. 

2. To establish a sufficient number of Federal Re- 
serve banks into which a certain percentage of the 
currency of the country might be collected automatic- 
ally, in order to provide for the mobilization of the 
reserve force of the country to meet any emergency — 



V" 



104 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

whether to move the cotton of the South, the grain of 
the West, drive the factories of a given area, or take 
care of American commerce in foreign fields. 

3. To provide a Federal Board of Control with 
power over banking somewhat similar to that of the 
Interstate Commerce Commission over the railroads, 
in order that the banks may serve the entire country 
rather than the speculative impulse of a small coterie 
of bankers. 

Such a radical change in our currency laws could 
not be made without a stubborn fight. In the first place 
the people were so accustomed to party government 
that the business of the country, which was allied for 
the most part with the Republican party, looked at 
first upon the proposed currency bill as a Democratic 
measure. The long partisan fight over the tariff was 
responsible in a large measure for this attitude. A 
Republican tariff was a protective tariff in the interest 
of business. A Democratic tariff Avas an anti-protective 
tariff in the interest of an entirely different class of 
citizens. Therefore, it had become a habit of mind 
to think that the party in power would administer 
the government in the interest of the- party in power ; 
hence, "pork-barrel" legislation and a number of per- 
plexing laws that gave much evidence to support this 
belief. 

When Mr. Wilson appeared at the Capitol, therefore, 
and asked Congress to reform the currency, the party 



A NEW CI RRENCY 



105 



leaders in opposition to the Democratic parly, but in 
accordance Avith old conceptions of party government, 
declared openly that the currency would not be re- 
formed, that it would not be advanced by any measure 
that the President might force through Congress. The 
partisan press continued the discussion. Mr. Wilson, 
they said, knew nothing about the technical phases of 
either banking or currency, and the great bankers of 
the country were not members of the Democratic 
party. Then how could a party whose leaders and 
members knew so little about the subject under con- 
sideration give the country relief? But Mr. Wilson 
had declared that the Democratic party must be turned 
into an instrument to serve the whole body of the 
nation. 

Three days after the President's address, the bill 
was introduced in the House and in the Senate. When 
it first appeared, it was imperfect, and many valid 
objections to it were raised. This was an evidence to 
many that, the country could expect no relief from a 
party that was approaching the subject at one time 
from an academic standpoint, and at another time from 
a partisan standpoint. It must be approached from a 
business standpoint which was another way of saying, 
from a Republican standpoint. 

The old time notion of party government was so 
strong that it did not seem to occur to the rank and 
file of either party that it was possible to secure the 



106 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

cooperation of the best thought in all parties in work- 
ing out a bill that would be of lasting benefit to the 
country. Neither did it seem to occur to them, when 
the outlines of the bill appeared, that the President 
was virtually saying to the nation, Here is the material 
out of which a masterpiece is to be created, bring in 
the workman, from whatever source, so that when the 
task is completed, the world may recognize it as a 
work of art ! On the contrary, the crude material was 
accepted as the finished product. Some laughed at it ; 
others criticized it; many denounced it; and for the 
time it appeared that the opposition was more con- 
cerned over obstructive legislation than discovering the 
right kind of legislation. But that attitude was 
natural. Moreover, it was consistent with party 
government in the past. 

The President, however, had announced that the 
government was entering a new era. Old customs were 
inadequate. But few saw then that currency reform 
would be the product of the best thought of America, 
that long before it became a law it would lose much 
of its partisan characteristics, and that before the end 
of the fight, the nation would witness Democrats and 
Republicans working together under the Chief Execu- 
tive of the nation for the financial relief of the whole 
country. 

President Wilson's method was unique. He had 
driven the lobbyists from the Capitol, and now he was 



A NEW CURRENCY 107 

showing the forces that relied on lobbyists how they 
might servo themselves by serving the whole country. 
"I am listening," he said, "I am diligently trying to 
collect all the brains that are borrowable in order that 
I shall not make more blunders than it is inevitable 
that a man should make who has great limitations of 
knowledge and capacity. And the emotion of the 
thing is so great that I suppose I must be some kind of 
a mask to conceal it." 

All political parties were agreed that serious defects 
existed, and the bankers of the country were fully 
aware of the inelasticity of the currency and the great 
need of a sufficiently large and workable reserve force. 
However, a large number of the bankers and other 
business men seemed to grow panicky over the per- 
sistent determination of the Administration to remedy 
those defects. But there was no stopping the. 
movement. 

In July the nation had become acquainted with the 
leading features of the bill, the purpose of which was 
to provide "a currency absolutely responsive to the 
business requirements of the country, coming forth 
when it is needed, and retiring at the consummation of 
these business transactions." Moreover, it provided 
for a reserve system, the purpose of which was to 
prohibit the reserve fund of the country from flowing 
to the banks of the larger cities to foster and encourage 
stock speculation, but which would draw the currency 



108 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

back into the banks of the various sections of the 
country, "there to be held as a sacred fund, to respond 
to the business demands of these various sections, 
rather than to be used in speculation purposes." 

The large financial centers at first showed much 
opposition. But they were urged by the press of the 
country "to hesitate before defeating the bill." Cap- 
tains of industry, who were incensed over tariff reduc- 
tions, raised a protest and at first offered only 
obstructions. But they too were warned that some kind 
of currency bill would certainly be enacted; and the 
President said kindly, but firmly, that he would be 
delighted to have the assistance of the patriotic 
bankers and business men in Avorking out the right 
kind of currency legislation. But whether that assist- 
ance came or not, a currency bill would be enacted. 

In August the Bankers' Conference at Chicago con- 
sidered the bill in detail and from every standpoint, 
and serious differences arose in that body as to the 
wisdom of the bill. But one banker remarked "if we 
cannot agree among ourselves as to the kind of cur- 
rency law that is needed, what can we expect of 
Congress?" Before this conference adjourned, how- 
ever, a better spirit prevailed and several very im- 
portant amendments to the bill were proposed which 
seemed to call the attention of Congress to certain 
features that were open to criticism. 

The attitude of the Administration toward legitimate 



A NEW CURRENCY 109 

criticism from all sources allayed much of the uneasi- 
ness that had prevailed, and opposition began to give 
way to cooperation. The bankers generally were in 
favor of one central bank instead of twelve regional 
banks, although they were by no means unanimous on 
this point. One of the most stubborn fights, however, 
was made against the provision of the bill that denied 
representation on the Federal Reserve Board to banks. 
It was this fight that showed the President to be the 
real leader of the nation. The financial committee 
of the House was convinced that the bankers were 
right in insisting on representation on the Board. Mr. 
Carter Glass, the Chairman of the Committee, wrote 
to the President, urging him to change his attitude. 

"About three days thereafter," Mr. Glass said, 
"there came to Washington a committee of the greatest 
bankers in the world. We were to go up to the White 
House and convince the President that he was totally 
wrong and impractical in his denial of representation 
on the Federal Reserve Board to the banks. I headed 
the procession perfectly confident that we were going 
to win our case and put the President to confusion. 
But he heard those great bankers, heard them 
courteously and deferentially and amiably. And after 
they had finished he quietly turned to us, and with 
those jaws firmly set, said : 

11 'Gentlemen, I challenge any one of you to 



HO WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

name a Government institution in this country or 
a government commission in any civilized country 
of the earth upon which private interests have 
representation.' 

"There was a deep silence. These great bankers 
were dumb. They did not undertake to answer him, 
and from that day I was converted. . . . You might 
as well say that the Interstate Commerce Commission, 
devised by the government to supervise the operations 
of the great railroads of the country, should have in 
its membership railroad presidents and railroad gen- 
eral managers as to say that the Federal Reserve Board 
to supervise the banking business should be selected 
in any measure by the banks themselves." 

The middle of August found the Senate still dis- 
cussing the tariff bill, the House trying to complete the 
currency bill, and the lobby enquiry was furnishing one 
sensation after another. The weather was distressingly 
warm, and Congress wanted to adjourn. The en- 
thusiasm that characterized "unterrified Democracy" 
at the beginning of the term was waning. Time after 
time delegations of Congressmen would go to the White 
House to impress upon the President that they wanted 
to adjourn. They wanted the teacher to "break up" 
school. But the President intimated that he *'had not 
the slightest idea of acquiescing in the adjournment with- 



A NEW CURRENCY HI 

out the passage of the currency bill as well as the tariff 
bill." 

Many Senators wished to finish the tariff, adjourn and 
leave the currency bill until next term; and while 
Congress was being congratulated for its work on the 
tariff, many of its members showed much impatience 
with the President's insistence that Congress should 
not adjourn until it had enacted also the currency and 
banking laws. And again he declared that he would 
use all the power he possessed to keep that body in 
session until this act was passed. And Congress re- 
mained in session. 

With the tariff bill in the Senate and the currency 
bill in the House the sense of obligation to the country 
was too great, and the summer had passed before the 
former could be completed, and the latter was too near 
completion for the members to adjourn. Thus, by 
keeping one important measure close upon the heels 
of the other, he kept Congress at work until summer 
had passed. The country was amazed, and so was 
Congress. 

The House passed the bill on September 18 with a 
majority so large, 285 to 85, that its partisan nature 
had largely disappeared. It was no longer a Demo- 
cratic measure. However, all the Democrats but three 
supported it and thirty-nine Republicans and Progres- 
sives voted for it. But the country was not willing for 
it to become a law in the shape that it came from the 



112 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

House. And it was already apparent that the bill 
would have rough sledding in the Senate. There was 
a feeling that the House had rushed the matter through 
without sufficient deliberation. Seeing that the Senate 
was hostile to many features of the House bill, Presi- 
dent Wilson announced that he would give up his 
proposed vacation in order to devote all of his time 
to Congress. He was still "diligently trying to collect 
all the brains that are borrowable," and he needed all 
that he could borrow since the contest was resolving 
itself into a fight now between the President and 
certain Senators. 

President Wilson greatly desired that final action 
should be taken on the bill before adjournment. When 
he signed the tariff bill, he said that the tariff legisla- 
tion was "the accomplishment of only half the journey. 
. . . We shall take the second step in the currency 
bill, which the House has already passed, and which 
I have the utmost confidence the Senate will pass much 
sooner than some pessimistic individuals believe." 
However, he was regarding with some anxiety the 
delay and the disagreement in the Senate Committee, 
and it was reported that he was seriously inclined to 
make public addresses on the subject in the states of 
the Democratic Senators who insisted on prolonging the 
hearings and demanded radical amendments. The 
Senate, however, could not be hurried. Chairman 
Owen desired that hearings should come to an end. 



A NEW CURRENCY 113 

But ho was voted down, and there were many indica- 
tions of severe friction. President Wilson conferred 
with both Republican and Democratic Senators, hoping 
to hasten the Committee's action, and his faith in the 
final outcome was an encouragement to his supporters 
in Congress. 

Notwithstanding the President's confidence and 
optimism, many of the Senators saw a gloomy and 
perilous road ahead. The bill seemed to be stuck in 
the committee room. The Finance Committee was dis- 
posed to change the bill very materially. In fact, Mr. 
Frank A. Vanderlip, President of the National City Bank 
of Xew York, one of the largest banks in the country, 
offered a substitute, providing for one central bank as 
opposed to the Administration's regional banks, and 
the central bank feature seemed to be growing in favor 
in the Senate. The committee was of the opinion 
that Government officials should not sit on the Federal 
Reserve Board; that better protection should be given 
to the two per cent government bonds then pledged 
against circulation; and that the proposed relations 
between national banks and regional banks would be 
unjust to the national banks. After a most thorough 
discussion the President yielded somewhat on these last 
two points. But he remained absolutely unchanged in 
his opposition to the central bank and to the member- 
ship of the Federal Reserve Hoard as proposed by the 
bankers. There were other minor points of difference. 



114 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

But the fight was now waged chiefly at these two points. 

The committee made such slow progress that the 
Senate leaders called a caucus, intending, it was as- 
sumed, to make the House bill a party measure and 
take it out of the Senate Committee's hands. The 
President Avas endorsing all the main features of the 
Glass-Owen bill, but had showed a disposition to yield 
one or two points as indicated above. He was firmly 
opposed to the idea of the central bank and it was 
openly talked that he would veto the action of Congress 
if the currency bill passed containing that feature. 

The first of November came and still the Committee 
could not agree. In fact, the majority seemed to be 
opposed to the Administration bill, and instead of one 
bill, three bills were about to come forth. During the 
fight in the Senate, the House was complaining because 
it had to remain in session while the Senate was doing 
little better than marking time. By the middle of 
November the Administration Senators, having grown 
impatient of the delay, bolted and held separate meet- 
ings, and a few days later it was decided to present 
the Administration bill, the substitutes and certain 
amendments separately, and on November 25, Chairman 
Owen opened the debate in the Senate. 

All hope for the bill during the special session was now 
gone, since only six days intervened before the opening 
of the 63rd Congress, and another effort to adjourn 
was made, but the President's influence was too great. 



A NEW CURRENCY 115 

Congress was not only held together, but it was decided 
to hold night sessions and to give no recess during the 
Christmas holidays, except Christmas Day, unless the 
bill was passed. The friends of the measure had pre- 
pared themselves for a regular siege. 

The task of carving out a great masterpiece was too 
great to be rushed through to completion. A majority 
of the Senate could be secured to remain in session and 
to work day and night, but the Senate would not hurry. 
The November elections indicated that the country was 
behind the Administration, and President Wilson's 
position was strengthened. Throughout the exciting 
days of the last of November he exhibited such calm- 
ness and such confidence that his supporters in the 
House and Senate were encouraged to stand solidly 
behind him. 

Such was the condition of affairs on December 1, 
when the Special Assembly came to a close. President 
Wilson had performed the feat of holding Con- 
gress together in continuous special session not only 
through the summer, but through the autumn months, 
and this in spite of the completion, two months before 
the adjournment, of the great task for which it was 
primarily assembled. The special assembly adjourned 
on December 1, and on the next day the 63rd Congress 
convened, and again President Wilson appeared before 
the joint session of the two Houses to report, in accord- 
ance with the provision of the Constitution, on the state 



116 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

of the country. He referred to the currency bill in 
these few words : 

"You already have under consideration a bill 
for the reform of our system of banking and cur- 
rency, for which the country waits with impatience, 
as for something fundamental to its whole busi- 
ness life and necessary to set credit free from arbi- 
trary and artificial restraints. I need not say how 
earnestly I hope for its early enactment into law. 
I take leave to beg that the whole energy and at- 
tention of the Senate be concentrated upon it until 
the matter is successfully disposed of. And yet 
I feel that the request is not needed — that the Mem- 
bers of that great House need no urging in this 
service to the country." 

And the debate was resumed. Day after day and 
night after night the details of the bill were threshed 
out, and after a week 's discussion, it was openly talked 
around the Capitol that the House and the Senate were 
hopelessly divided and that President Wilson's leader- 
ship would be destroyed with the defeat of the bill. 
There were still a few Democrats who were unable to 
forgive the President for his triumph in the tariff fight 
and for the power that had been gathered into his 
hands. There were others of both parties who still 
believed the currency bill was too imperfect to become 



A NEW CURRENCY 117 

a law. The Democratic leaders, therefore, became 
somewhat pessimistic; the press sought eagerly for 
some signs of a compromise ; and Senators and Members 
were preparing to give up their Christmas holidays. 

However, callers from the White House brought back 
the intelligence that the President, instead of being 
excited or disappointed, was as calm and as serene as 
ever, and that he was confident the Senate and the 
House would agree, and the debate continued, not only 
in the Senate but throughout the nation. 

Finally on December 19 the Senate was ready to vote. 
Some of the amendments to the Administration bill 
were lost by only three votes, and in one instance it 
required the vote of the Vice-President. It was this 
narrow margin that had prolonged the debate and 
made every detail of the bill come under close inspec- 
tion. But on the final vote the bill was adopted, 54 to 
34. Many changes had been made since it was passed 
by the House. But after a conference of three days 
the House and the Senate reached an agreement, and 
on December 23 Congress arrived at "the second stage 
in the journey to the new Freedom." 

There was great rejoicing in the nation. In every 
section of the country the press was declaring that 
President Wilson and his associates in enacting the 
banking and currency laws had achieved the greatest 
triumph in a century. Moreover, it was the consensus 
of opinion that members of all parties and of both 



118 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

Houses of Congress showed sincerity and patriotism in 
their efforts to reform the currency and that they grew 
immensely, during the months of heated debate, in their 
knowledge of the principles of banking and monetary 
science. Furthermore, the business of the country was 
pleased with the outcome, and, almost without excep- 
tion, the expressed opinions declared that the bill 
would be acceptable to the country at large, and a great 
tribute was paid to the skillful leadership of President 
Wilson, whose power and prestige was again increased, 
since, through his leadership, Congress had performed 
"a legislative miracle." 

When the bill was passed, Congress adjourned for 
the holidays. But committees from both Houses car- 
ried the newly created masterpiece to the White House 
to obtain the signature of the President, and they were 
able to lay before him, as the result of their labor, a 
new system that was guaranteed to correct the evils 
that the nation had suffered from for nearly a half 
century. 

1. It discarded the old system of bond secured cur- 
rency and reserve fund by basing currency upon com- 
mercial assets so that it would respond automatically 
to the commercial, industrial, and agricultural re- 
quirements. 

2. It created not less than eight nor more than 
twelve regional reserve banks and provided for the 
transfer of the reserve funds to these geographical 



A NEW CURRENCY no 

centers for the ready use of the respective sections in 
the accommodation of legitimate business, and made 
the resources of the whole country available for im- 
mediate use. 

3. It provided for the expansion of foreign trade by 
authorizing the establishment by national banks of for- 
eign branches, thus giving American business in foreign 
countries advantages equal to those of competing 
business. 

4. It created a board of control over banking similar 
to that of the Interstate Commerce Commission over 
the railroads. 

Such were the outlines of the masterpiece that had 
been carved out for the nation after one of the most 
stubborn fights in Congress since the Civil War. But 
it was at last accomplished, and the workmen who 
helped to fashion the piece came from the whole nation. 
President Wilson had "borrowed brains" from editors, 
magazine writers, economists, bankers, manufacturers, 
farmers, railroad presidents and industrial workers 
wherever interest was created. It was natural, there- 
fore, that he should exhibit more than a little pride in 
the completion of the work, which, it was declared, was 
sufficient ' ' to make any Administration immortal. ' ' After 
signing the bill, he spoke these words to those who were 
standing around his table: 

"It is a matter of real gratification to me that 



120 WOODEOW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

in the case of this bill there should have been so 
considerable number of Republican votes cast for 
it. All great measures under our system of gov- 
ernment are of necessity party measures, for the 
party of the majority is responsible for their 
organization and their passage ; but this cannot be 
called a partisan measure. 

"It has been relieved of all intimation of that 
sort by the cordial cooperation of men on the other 
side of the two houses, who have acted with us 
and have given very substantial reasons and very 
intelligent reasons for acting with us, so that I 
think we can go home with the feeling that we 
are in better spirits for public service than we 
were even when we convened in April. 

"As for the bill itself, I feel that we can say 
that it is the first of a series of constructive 
measures by which the Democratic party will 
show that it knows how to serve the country. In 
calling it the first of a series of constructive 
measures, I need not say that I am not casting 
any reflections on the great tariff bill which pre- 
ceded it. This tariff bill was meant to remove 
those impediments to American industry and pros- 
perity which had so long stood in their way. It was 
a great piece of preparation for the achievement 



A NEW CURRENCY 121 

of American commerce and American industry, 
which are certainly to follow. 

"Then there came upon the heels of it this bill 
which furnishes the machinery for free and elastic 
and uncontrolled credits, put at the disposal of 
the merchants and manufacturers of this country 
for the first time in fifty years. I was refreshing 
my memory on the passage of the national bank 
act, which came in two pieces, as you know, in 
February of 1863 and in June of 1864; it is just 
fifty years ago since that measure suitable for that 
time was passed, and it has taken us more than a 
generation and a half to come to an understanding 
as to the readjustments which were necessary for 
our own time. But we have reached those read- 
justments. 

"I myself have always felt when the Democratic 
party was criticized as not knowing how to serve 
the business interests of the country that there was 
no use of replying to that in words. The only sat- 
isfactory reply was in action. We have written 
the first chapter of that reply. 

"We are greatly favored by the circumstances 
of our time. We come at the end of a day of con- 
test, at the end of a day when we have been scruti- 
nizing the processes of our business, scrutinizing 



122 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

them with critical, and sometimes with hostile eye. 
We have slowly been coming to this time which has 
now, happily, arrived, when there is a common rec- 
ognition of the things that it is undesirable should 
be clone in business and the things that it is de- 
sirable should be done. What we are proceeding 
to do now is to organize our peace, is to make our 
prosperity not only stable but free to have an 
unimpeded momentum. 

"It is so obvious that it ought not to be stated 
that nothing can be good for the country which is 
not good for all of the country. Nothing can be 
for the interest of the country which is not for the 
interest of everybody; therefore, the day of ac- 
commodation and of concession and of common 
understanding is the day of peace and achievement 
and of necessity. We have come to the beginning 
of the day. Men are no longer resisting the con- 
clusions which the nation has arrived at as to the 
necessity of readjustments of its business. 

"Business men of all sorts are showing their 
willingness to come into this arrangement, which 
I venture to characterize as the constitution of 
peace. So that by common counsel, and by the 
accumulating force of cooperation, we are going 
to seek more and more to serve the country. 



A NEW CURRENCY 123 

"I have been surprised at the sudden acceptance 

of this measure by public opinion everywhere. I 
say surprised because it seems as if it has suddenly 
become obvious to men who had looked at it with 
too critical an eye that it was really meant in their 
interest. 

"They have opened their eyes to see a thing, 
which they had supposed to be hostile, to be 
friendly and serviceable — exactly what we in- 
tended it to be, and what we shall intend all our 
legislation to be. The men who have fought for 
this measure have fought nobody. They have 
simply fought for those accommodations which are 
going to secure us in prosperity and in peace. No- 
body can be the friend of any class in America in 
the sense of being the enemy of any other class. 
You can only be the friend of one class by showing 
it the lines by which it can accommodate itself to 
the other class. The lines of help are always the 
lines of accommodation. 

"It is in this spirit, therefore, that we rejoice 
together tonight, and I cannot say with what deep 
emotions of gratitude I feel that I have had a part, 
in completing a work which I think will be of 
lasting benefit to the business of the country." 



CHAPTER VI 

THE DESTRUCTION OF MONOPOLY— THE 
THIRD STAGE OP THE JOURNEY 

"There has been something crude and heartless and 
unfeeling in our haste to succeed and be great," Pres- 
ident Wilson said in his inaugural address. "Our 
thoughts have been, 'let every man look out for himself, 
let every generation look out for itself,' while we reared 
giant machinery which made it impossible that any but 
those who stood at the levers of control should have a 
chance to look out for themselves. ' ' His ruling passion 
was to bring back to the nation that old freedom that 
existed when the fathers set up a new nation on this 
continent, when the small as well as the great had "a 
chance to look out for themselves." To restore such 
liberty in this very complex business age was an ideal. 
Was it possible of realization? 

The withdrawal of governmental protection through 
tariff revision was the first step. A new banking law 
and a commission, with power over banking to see that 
the great financial currents flow from the heart of the 
nation to the weak and depressed centers at a time when 
the need of this life blood is greatest, was the second 

124 



THE DESTRUCTION OF MONOPOLY }25 

step. But still the question was not answered. How 
ever, President Wilson assured the nation that, if Con- 
gress would take this third step as heroically as it took 
the first two, the question would finally be answered. 
Even before the second step was taken, he declared in 
his address to Congress on December 2, 1913: 

"I think that all thoughtful observers will 
agree that the immediate service we owe the busi- 
ness communities of the country is to prevent pri- 
vate monopoly more effectually than it has yet 
been prevented. I think it will be easily agreed 
that we should let the Sherman anti-trust law 
stand unaltered, as it is, with its debatable ground 
about it, but that we should as much as possible 
reduce the area of that debatable ground, by fur- 
ther and more explicit legislation, and should also 
supplement that great act by legislation which 
will not only clarify it, but also facilitate its ad- 
ministration and make it fairer to all concerned. 
No doubt we shall all wish, and the country will 
expect this to be the central subject of our delib- 
erations during this session; but it is a subject 
so many-sided and so deserving of careful and 
discriminating discussion that. I shall take the lib- 
erty of addressing you upon it in a special mes- 
sage at a later date than this. It is of capital 



126 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

importance that the business men of this country 
should be relieved of all uncertainties of law with 
regard to their enterprises and investments, and 
a clear path indicated which they can travel with- 
out anxiety. It is as important that they should 
be relieved of embarrassment and set free to 
prosper as that private monopoly should be 
destroyed. The ways of action should be thrown 
wide open." 

He was constantly calling the attention of the people 
to this fact, that it was only just to business men for 
Congress to relieve them of all uncertainty. This was 
his excuse for driving the tariff through. The same 
argument was used when Senators and Members balked 
at attempting the second stage of the journey. "Set 
business free" was his earnest appeal. Take the boss 
down and let the ways of action be thrown wide open. 
But this language the captains of industry could not 
understand. 

All of the great corporations, called "trusts," had 
been formed under the Sherman anti-trust law, which 
was enacted over a quarter of a century ago. It seems 
that nobody had ever known how to apply the law to a 
particular case, since it did not cover exactly every im- 
portant feature in the organization and growth of the 
modern corporation. On the other hand, it became very 



THE DESTRUCTION OF MONOPOLY 127 

patent that methods of certain corporations in crushing 
out business rivals were criminal, even under the com- 
mon law and inexcusable in a country where justice was ' 
supposed to prevail. Therefore, the hatred of the peo- 
ple for trusts and trust methods and even for "trust 
made goods" had reached a critical stage. This feeling 
was accompanied by a list of indictments brought under 
the Sherman anti-trust law which are well known today. 

Instead of being a healthy preventive, however, the 
Sherman law was fast becoming a most dangerous instru- 
ment in the hands of demagogues, politicians and law- 
yers. As prosecutions and persecutions continued, court 
opinions so construed the law from time to time that it 
had become a patchwork of legislative enactment and 
judicial decisions. The meaning was so uncertain that 
any corporation, good or bad, might become a prey to 
designing lawyers or might be held up by demagogues 
and politicians, and the agitation kept business in a 
depressed state and the nation in a panicky condition. 

President Wilson was determined that monopoly 
should be destroyed and that "the business men of this 
country should be relieved of all uncertainty of the law 
with regard to their enterprises and investments and a 
clearer path indicated which they can travel without 
anxiety." And before the currency law was enacted, he 
notified Congress that he would address them "in a spe- 
cial message at a later date than this." This was the 
signal for another set of committees to begin shaping 



128 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

remediable anti-trust bills, and when Congress convened 
after the Christmas holidays, the press notified the peo- 
ple of the country that the next "target" would be Big 
Business. Such was the editorial interpretation of 
President Wilson's statement, "I want to see suspicion 
dissipated. I want to see the time brought about when 
the rank and file of the citizens of the United States who 
have a stern attitude towards the business men of the 
country shall be absolutely done away with and for- 
gotten. ' ' 

It was with considerable anxiety, therefore, that the 
nation awaited the President's address, and business 
seemed to be very unsteady. It had been the "target" 
of the Administration for nine months, and by this time 
the sympathies of the people were beginning to turn. 
There was unquestionably an industrial depression. Re- 
ports of interviews with merchants and bankers, how- 
ever, did not give the impression that business was less 
sound, but a strange fear seemed to be fastening itself 
gradually upon the minds of the people. Mr. Oscar 
Underwood, Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee 
of the House, admitted that industrial depression existed, 
but he declared that it began before Woodrow Wilson 
was elected President. Mr. John Wanamaker, however, 
is reported to have remarked that "the man who sees 
nothing but disaster ahead is not a true American. The 
breeders of panic ought to be deported." 

Such was the state of the public mind on January 30 



THE DESTRUCTION OF MONOPOLY J29 

when Mr. "Wilson appeared at the Capitol to deliver the 
already expected and widely heralded address, which, it 
was predicted, would be the signal for the beginning of 
the great conflict. On this occasion he went more into 
detail than in any previous address, pointed out certain 
weaknesses in the Sherman law, and stated specifically 
what was necessary to complete the destruction and pre- 
vent the creation of monopoly, and relieve the businass 
men of all uncertainties of the law. 

"In my report 'on the state of the Union,' " 
he began, "which I had the privilege of reading 
to you on the 2nd of December last, I ventured to 
reserve for discussion at a later date the subject 
of additional legislation regarding the very diffi- 
cult and intricate matter of trusts and monop- 
olies. The time now seems opportune to turn 
to that great question; not only because the cur- 
rency legislation, which absorbed your attention 
and the attention of the country in December, is 
now disposed of, but also because opinion seems 
to be clearing about us with singular rapidity in 
this other great field of action. In the matter 
of the currency it cleared suddenly and very 
happily after the much debated Act was passed; 
in respect of the monopolies which have multi- 
plied about us and in regard to the various means 



130 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

by which they have been organized and main- 
tained, it seems to be coming to a clear and all 
but universal agreement in anticipation of our 
action, as if by way of preparation, making the 
way easier to see and easier to set out upon with 
confidence and without confusion of counsel." 

It was an accepted principle that "private monopoly 
is indefensible." However, the President argued that 
great business men who organized and financed monopoly 
either denied its existence or justified it as necessary 
for the effective maintenance and development of the 
vast business processes of the country in the modern 
circumstances of trade and manufacture and finance. 
But he declared that the time had come at last to act, 
that the experience of a whole generation would justify 
a new interpretation and that the masters of business 
had already begun "to j'ield their preference and pur- 
pose, perhaps their judgment also, in honorable surren- 
der." What, then, was the task ahead of Congress? 

"What we are purposing to do," he said, "is, 
happily, not to hamper or interfere with business 
as enlightened business men prefer to do it, or 
in any sense to put it under the ban. The antag- 
onism between business and government is over. 
We are now about to give expression to the best 



THE DESTRUCTION OF MONOPOLY 131 

business judgment of America, to what we know 
to be the business conscience and honor of the 
land. The government and business men are 
ready to meet each other half way in a common 
effort to square business methods with both public 
opinion and the law. The best informed men of 
the business world condemn the methods and 
processes and consequences of monopoly as we 
condemn them; and the instinctive judgment of 
the vast majority of business men everywhere 
goes with them. We shall now be their spokes- 
men. That is the strength of our position and 
the sure prophecy of what will ensue when our 
reasonable work is done." 

He then declared that it was possible to bring about 
the needed reform without seriously disturbing business. 
"No measures of sweeping or novel change are necessary, 
but," he said, "we desire the laws we are now about to 
pass to be the bulwarks and safeguards of industry 
against the forces that have disturbed it." And both 
public opinion and business, he declared, were waiting 
for the changes to be made. 

"It waits with acquiescence, in the first place, 
for laws which will effectually prohibit and pre- 
vent such interlockings of the personnel of the 



132 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

directorates of great corporations — banks and 
railroads, industrial, commercial, and public serv- 
ice bodies — as in effect make those who borrow 
and those who lend practically one and the same, 
those who sell and those who buy but the same 
persons trading with one another under different 
names and in different combinations, and those 
who affect to compete, in fact, partners and mas- 
ters of some whole field of business. Sufficient 
time should be allowed, of course, in which to 
effect these changes of organization without in- 
convenience or confusion." 

After speaking of the great advantages that would 
come to the people from such a change, he directed his 
remarks to the second reform needed. 

"In the second place, business men as well as 
those who direct public affairs now recognize, 
and recognize with painful clearness, the great 
harm and injustice which has been done to many, 
if not all, of the great railroad systems of the 
country by the way in which they have been 
financed and their own distinctive interests sub- 
ordinated to the interests of the men who financed 
them and of other business enterprises which 
those men wished to promote. 



THE DESTRUCTION OF MONOPOLY 133 

"The country is ready, therefore, to accept, and 
accept with relief as well as approval, a law 
which will confer upon the Interstate Commerce 
Commission the power to superintend and reg- 
ulate the financial operations by which the rail- 
roads are henceforth to be supplied with the 
money they need for their proper development 
to meet the rapidly growing requirements of the 
country for increased and improved facilities of 
transportation. We cannot postpone action in 
this matter without leaving the railroads exposed 
to many serious handicaps and hazards; and the 
prosperity of the railroads and the prosperity of 
the country are inseparably connected. 

"Upon this question those who are chiefly re- 
sponsible for the actual management and opera- 
tion of the railroads have spoken very plainly 
and very earnestly, with a purpose wc ought to 
be quick to accept. It will be one step, and a 
very important one, toward the necessary separa- 
tion of the business of production from the busi- 
ness of transportation." 

A third change that was sorely needed, he argued, 
was further and more explicit legislative definition of 
the policy and moaning of the existing anti-trust laws. 



134 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

"Nothing hampers business like uncertainty," 
he said. "Nothing daunts or discourages it like 
the necessity to take chances, to run the risk of 
falling under the condemnation of the law before 
it can make sure just what the law is. Surely 
we are sufficiently familiar with the actual pro- 
cesses and methods of monopoly and of the many 
hurtful restraints of trade to make definition 
possible, at any rate, up to the limits of what 
experience has disclosed. These practices, being 
now abundantly disclosed, can be explicitly and 
item by item forbidden by statute in such terms 
as will practically eliminate uncertainty." 

The fourth important legislation that he asked for was 
an administrative body, an interstate trade commission 
to give advice and definite guidance and information to 
business men, in order that they might be able to avoid 
the pitfalls of the old Sherman anti-trust law. 

"The business men of the country," he said, 
"desire such a commission, and the opinion of 
the country would instantly approve of it. 
But it would not wish to see this commission 
empowered to make terms with monopoly or in 
any sort to assume control of business, as if the 
government made itself responsible. It demands 



THE DESTRUCTION OF MONOPOLY 135 

such a commission only as an indispensable in- 
strument of information and publicity, as a 
clearing house for the facts by which both the 
public mind and the managers of great business 
undertakings should be guided, and as an instru- 
mentality for doing justice to business where 
the processes of the courts or the natural forces 
of correction outside the courts are inadequate 
to adjust the remedy to the wrong in a way that 
will meet all the equities and circumstances of 
the case." 

The fifth enactment that he asked for was a clause in 
the law that would visit the penalty for violation of the 
act not upon business but upon individuals "who use 
the instrumentalities of business to do things which 
public policy and sound business practice condemn." 

"Every act of business," he argued, "is done 
at the command or upon the initiative of some 
ascertainable person or group of persons. These 
should be held individually responsible and the 
punishment should fall upon them, not upon the 
business organizations of which they make illegal 
use. It should be one of the main objects of our 
legislation to divest such persons of their corpo- 
rate cloak and deal with them as with those who 



136 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

do not represent their corporations, but merely 
by deliberate intention break the law. Business 
men the country through, would, I am sure, 
applaud us if we were to take effectual steps to 
see that the officers and directors of great busi- 
ness bodies were prevented from bringing them 
and the business of the country into disrepute and 
danger. ' ' 

The sixth request that he made of Congress was "to 
give private individuals who claim to have been injured 
by these processes the right to found their suits for re- 
dress upon the facts and judgments proved and entered 
in suits by the government when the government has, 
upon its own initiative, sued the combinations complained 
of and won its suit." 

He argued that ' ' individuals who are put out of busi- 
ness in one unfair way or another by the many dislodg- 
ing and exterminating forces of combination" are really 
at a serious disadvantage in trying to recover. There- 
fore, he said, "it is not fair that the private litigant 
should be obliged to set up and establish again the facts 
which the government has proved." 

The seventh and last suggestion that his message con- 
tained called for a careful consideration of enterprises 
which are oftentimes "interlocked, not by being under 
the control of the same directors, but by the fact that 



THE DESTRUCTION OF MONOPOLY 137 

the greater part of their corporate stock is owned by a 
single individual or group of persons who are in some 
way intimately related in interest." 

"We are agreed," he said, "I take it, that 
holding companies should be prohibited, but what 
of the controlling private ownership of individ- 
uals or actually cooperative groups of indi- 
viduals? Shall the private owners of capital 
stock be suffered to be themselves in effect hold- 
ing companies"? We do not wish, I suppose, to 
forbid the purchase of stocks by any person who 
pleases to buy them in such quantities as he can 
afford, or in any way arbitrarily to limit the sale 
of stocks to bona fide purchasers. Shall we re- 
quire the owners of stock, when their voting 
power in several companies which ought to be 
independent of one another would constitute 
actual control, to make election in which of them 
they will exercise their right to vote ? ' ' 

He had at last disclosed his complete program and 
was approaching the end. A feeling of relief swept over 
the Senators and Members, and the nervous tension in 
the press galleries relaxed when he turned to his con- 
cluding paragraph. 

"I have laid the case before you," he con- 



138 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

eluded, "no doubt, as it lies in your own mind, 
so it lies in the thought of the country. What 
must every candid man say of the suggestions I 
have laid before you, of the plain obligations of 
which I have reminded you? That these are new 
things for which the country is not prepared? 
No; but that they are old things, now familiar, 
and must of course be undertaken if we are to 
square our laws with the thought and desire of 
the country. Until these things are done, con- 
scientious business men the country over will be 
unsatisfied. They are in these things our men- 
tors and colleagues. We are now about to write 
the additional articles of our constitution of 
peace, the peace that is honor and freedom and 
prosperity." 

Such was the large program presented to Congress 
by President Wilson in January, 1914. The nation had 
been warned repeatedly that his anti-trust measures 
were surely coming. This was the occasion again for 
business to become somewhat panicky. Therefore, on 
the 20th of January the stage was set, and it was even 
predicted that the President and Big Business had at 
last come to the death struggle and the whole nation was 
breathless with expectation. A member of Congress de- 
clared that "the eight hundred or more trusts that now 



THE DESTRUCTION OF MONOPOLY 139 

dominate the industries of the country will put up a 
fight that will try men's souls." 

However, after the message was delivered, captains of 
industries, railroad presidents, and even anti-Wilson 
newspapers praised the message, and it was noticeable 
that " stock values sprang to higher levels." It was now 
declared by leaders in both parties that the atmosphere 
was changing, "since there is a disposition on the part 
of great business industries of the country to meet the 
President in a fair and square method of adjusting their 
business transactions." 

The message was such a surprise to those especially 
interested that extremists who favored destroying at 
once all monopoly, root and branch, declared that the 
message was a disappointment and that the President 
had "sold out." Legitimate business had been so har- 
rassed by the threats of Congress and party leaders, that 
it had about despaired of securing justice. Moreover, 
illegitimate business had had its methods trailed through 
the newspapers and certain "malefactors" had even 
been sent to penitentiary. Therefore, the country had 
come to the conclusion at last that justice in spite of pro- 
test was about to be done. 

The President's message gave legitimate business 
increased confidence and a more wholesome atmosphere ; 
and illegitimate business, the hope that it, too, might 
be permitted to become respectable before the aveng- 
ing wrath of a just ruler should overtake it. The 



140 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

price of stocks and bonds showed a distinct gain 
the morning afterward, and the business men in every 
section of the nation were trying to believe in the Presi- 
dent's assurance that "the antagonism between business 
and government is over." 

The form of a great masterpiece had been outlined 
again and Congress was set to the task of carving out 
the delicate lines. 

The President had learned from his fight with the 
Senate over the currency bill not to ask for haste. More- 
over, the publication of the bills that were soon drafted 
to carry out his recommendations was accompanied by 
the promise of ample hearings on them and full debate. 
The programme was so comprehensive that both Sen- 
ators and Members felt that much time was needed to 
give them all the consideration needed. There was con- 
siderable feeling in Congress, too, that an important 
measure such as the one before it should not be enacted 
during the same session in which it was proposed. 

In the meantime the interlocked interests were being 
voluntarily unlocked. Hence, there seemed to be no 
pressing need for legislation along that line. Moreover, 
the tariff and currency laws were still new, and business 
had not made full adjustment to them. In fact, the new 
currency law was not yet in operation. Furthermore, 
there seemed to be no urgent public demand or public 
necessity for immediate enactment of any anti-trust 
measures. On the other hand, railroads were asking for 



THE DESTRUCTION OF MONOPOLY l±\ 

an increase of freight rates on the grounds of business 
depression, and there did appear to exist a serious lack 
of confidence in the great trade markets of the country. 

At this time Congress began to consider seriously the 
advisability of abandoning the anti-trust measures, wind- 
ing up the necessary business to be transacted, and ad- 
journing at an early date. It was pointed out that Con- 
gress had been in practically continuous session for a 
much longer period than any previous Congress in the 
country's history, and its members naturally and prop- 
erly wished to wind up the business at a date early 
enough to give them opportunity to prepare for the 
Congressional campaign. 

President Wilson, however, was steadfast in his con- 
viction that "nothing is more dangerous to business than 
uncertainty" and that it was "a great deal better to 
do the thing moderately and soberly now than wait until 
more radical forces had accumulated and it was neces- 
sary to go much further." Moreover, he was interview- 
ing the leading business men of the country and talking 
with Chambers of Commerce and Boards of Trade; and 
when a group of manufacturers visited the White House 
in May and asked him to postpone carrying out the trust 
program on account of business depression, he is re- 
ported to have said that, while he was aware of such 
depression, there was abundant evidence to show that 
it was merely psychological and that there was "no nat- 
ural condition or substantial reason why the business of 



142 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

the country should not be in the most prosperous and 
expanding condition." His firm opposition to an ad- 
journment before the pledges to the people were redeemed 
dispelled all hope of an early adjournment, and Mem- 
bers of both Houses saw another busy summer ahead of 
them, because the legislative mill was grinding too slowly 
for any large results at an early date. 

The Administration's program was finally worked 
out in the House and embodied in three bills: (1) a 
bill creating an Interstate Trade Commission, (2) the 
Clayton Omnibus bill, and (3) the Railway Capitaliza- 
tion bill. These measures progressed so well in the 
House that by May 18 the debate began, and within less 
than three weeks (June 5) they passed the House and 
were carried to the Senate, where the great fight was 
scheduled. Here again they had to run the gauntlet 
of the committee rooms of the Senate. Every new fea- 
ture added to them was a challenge to innumerable de- 
bates, and every elimination was a warning that in the 
end the bill itself might find a similar fate. There 
seemed to be an irreconcilable difference between the 
attitude of organized labor and organized capital over 
the bills, and the arguments that followed only served 
to show how far away the end was. 

The Mexican trouble had reached an acute stage ; the 
Panama tolls controversy was at a critical moment; and 
pressure was again brought to bear on the Administra- 
tion to abandon the trust bills. Then during the month 



THE DESTRUCTION OF MONOPOLY 143 

of June, it appeared that the pressure was being felt, 
and it was freely talked that President Wilson had 
agreed to an adjournment in July. That left only 
about a month to complete the trust bills and transact 
all the other important business necessary ; and the pre- 
diction was openly made that Congress would adjourn 
without passing the Administration measures. 

Senators and Members faced another summer. They 
remembered only too well the mastery that the President 
had exercised over Congress the summer before — how 
he had held that body together in spite of the tremen- 
dous opposition to the tariff and the currency bills, and 
in spite of the desire on the part even of many friends of 
the measure to escape the intense heat of the capital. 

They had been in session over twelve months. The 
young administration had now reached its second sum- 
mer with a constitution strong enough to make the last 
and really the worst stage of the journey. But again 
many felt that the country would be best served by an 
adjournment until after "dog days." 

However, the desperate opponents of the bill learned 
with much chagrin that President Wilson had no inten- 
tion to postpone action. He was inexorable, notwith- 
standing the fact that Congress was tired and a new 
election was approaching. 

The opposition then resorted to its old tactics. It began 
a campaign to bring great pressure to bear on Congress 
from the people "back home" and thus to frighten the 



144 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

Members away from the measure. Letters were sent 
out asking every business man receiving them "to write 
letters of a similar character to the President, the Mem- 
bers of the United States Senate and House of Repre- 
sentatives from your state." When these letters were 
made public, they created almost as great a sensation 
as did the ' ' Insidious Lobby ' ' the year before. Such let- 
ters, the President suggested, showed the process by 
which the present psychological depression had been arti- 
ficially created. 

In the midst of this excitement he sent for the Demo- 
cratic Steering Committee of the Senate, reiterated his 
belief that actual business conditions were normal and 
improving, and asserted with emphasis that all the in- 
fluence he possessed would be exerted against the 
adjournment of Congress without the completion of its 
anti-trust program. He declared, furthermore, that the 
most unsettling thing that could happen to business 
would be to be left for six or eight months longer in 
uncertainty as to what form the promised anti-trust leg- 
islation would take, and he insisted with a show of impa- 
tience that business ought to be more interested in ending 
the fight than in postponing it. 

It seemed to be quite evident, however, that Congress, 
if left to itself, would adjourn within a few weeks. Dem- 
ocratic leaders were asserting that an adjournment would 
be reached anyway by August 1, although it was admitted 
that Mr. Wilson still had sufficient authority to hold 



THE DESTRUCTION OF MONOPOLY ].\r> 

Congress to its work all summer, if he so desired. A 
proposition was made that had considerable backing to 
adjourn Congress on August 1, with the understanding 
that it was to be summoned in extra session directly after 
the November election. The idea was that all the left- 
over bills, including the anti-trust bills, could be acted 
upon before January. But again the President was re- 
ported to be in an "unyielding mood." 

He had declared that business depression was due more 
to psychological causes than actual unsoundness. How- 
ever, the press of the country retorted by asserting that 
thirteen important railroads were in the hands of re- 
ceivers, with three others on the verge of receiverships. 
Moreover, the financial records showed that more than 
forty large corporations passed their dividends that year, 
and it was extremely difficult to obtain mercantile loans 
from country banks. While this discussion was rife, the 
IT. B. Claflin Company of New York failed. This was 
the greatest bankruptcy in the history of the American 
dry goods business, since it controlled twenty-seven de- 
partment retail stores and was associated with ten more. 
These facts were used with much force throughout the 
country to convince the Members of the House and Sen- 
ate that the Administration anti-trust bills should not 
be passed at a time when business was so depressed. 
However, if there was any large number of people who 
believed that a cry of hard times, or overworked Con- 
gressmen, or approaching defeat at the November elec- 



146 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

tions, or even serious business depression would move 
Mr. Wilson from his position, they were sadly disap- 
pointed. He was immovable in his conviction that the 
greater the depression, the more urgent was the demand 
for legislative action — a view-point that many business 
men could not understand. 

On June 25, while the Claflin failure was being dis- 
cussed in every city in America, President Wilson ad- 
dressed a delegation of Virginia editors, and he took the 
occasion to make his position clear to the whole country. 

"I think it is appropriate," lie said, ''in receiv- 
ing you, to say just a word or two in assistance 
of your judgment about the existing conditions. 
You are largely responsible for the state of 
public opinion. You furnish the public with 
information and in your editorials you furnish 
it with the interpretation of that information. 

"We are in the presence of a business situa- 
tion which is variously interpreted. Here in 
"Washington, through the Bureau of Commerce 
and other instrumentalities that are at our dis- 
posal and through a correspondence which comes 
to us from all parts of the nation, we are per- 
haps in a position to judge of the actual condi- 
tions of business better than those can judge 
who are at any other single point in the country; 



THE DESTRUCTION OF MONOPOLY 147 

and I want to say to you that as a matter of fact 
the signs of a very strong business revival are 
becoming more and more evident from day to 
day." 

Then, for a while, he spoke of the panicky feeling and 
the fears and criticisms that had come from business 
men. But he declared: 

"There is nothing more fatal to business than 
to be kept guessing from month to month and 
from year to year whether something serious is 
going to happen to it or not, and what in par- 
ticular is going to happen to it, if anything does. 
It is impossible to forecast the prospects of any 
line of business unless you know what the year 
is going to bring forth. Nothing is more unfair, 
nothing has been declared by business men to be 
more harmful, than to keep them guessing." 

He was constantly trying to impress this fact upon 
the people and even upon the business men themselves. 
But it was very apparent that they preferred a prof- 
itable uncertainty such as the past had been to many. 
Mr. Wilson then reviewed the history of this depression, 
going back to the beginning of the tariff agitation and 
coming on down through the stubborn fight for currency 
reforms. 



148 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

"Then we advanced to the trust program," 
he said, "and again the same dread, the same 
hesitation, the same urgency that the thing should 
be postponed. It will not be postponed, and it 
will not be postponed because we are the friends 
of business. We know what we are doing. We 
purpose to do it under the advice — for we have 
been fortunate enough to obtain the advice — of 
men who understand the business of the country, 
and we know that the effect is going to be ex- 
actly what the effect of the currency reform was, 
a sense of relief and of security. 

"Because when the program is finished, it 
is finished; the interrogation points are rubbed 
off the plate, business is given its constitution of 
freedom and is bidden to go forward under that 
constitution. And just so soon as it gets that 
leave and freedom there will be a boom of busi- 
ness in this country such as we have never wit- 
nessed in the United States. 

"I, as a friend of business and a servant of 
the country, would not dare stop in this pro- 
gram and bring on another long period of agita- 
tion. Agitation longer continued would be fatal 
to the business of this country, and if this pro- 
gram is delayed, there will come agitation, 



THE DESTRUCTION or MONOPOLY ]49 

with every letter in the word a capital Letter. 
The choice is a sober and sensible program, 
now completed, or months upon months of addi- 
tional conjecture and danger. 

"I for one could not ask the country to excuse 
a policy which subjected business to longer con- 
tinued agitation and uncertainty; and, therefore, 
I am sure that it is beginning to be evident to 
the whole press of this country, and by the same 
token, to the people, that a conservative pro- 
gram is at last not only to be imposed, hut 
completed, and that when it is completed, busi- 
ness can get — and will get what it can get in 
no other way — rest, recuperation, and successful 
adjustment. I cannot get rest if you send me 
to bed wondering what is going to happen to me 
in the morning; but if you send me to bed know- 
ing what the course of business is to be tomorrow 
morning, I can rest. How much better is certain 
justice to the men engaged in business. 

"It is a matter of conscience, as well as a mat- 
ter of large public policy, to do what this Con- 
gress, I am now certain, is going to do — finish 
the program. And I do not think that it is going 
to take a very long time. I believed that the 
temper of those engaged in this great thing is 



150 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

admirable, that the various elements sometimes 
in antagonism in the Congress of the United 
States are growing together and that we shall 
witness an early statesmanlike result from which 
we shall all have abundant reason to be 
thankful." 

Mr. Wilson's faith in the final outcome strengthened 
the working force in Congress. His determination not 
to postpone action gave impetus to its Members, and his 
open and unqualified assurance, constantly repeated, 
that "we are the friends of business," that "we have 
been fortunate enough to obtain the advice of men who 
understand the business of the country," gave them more 
confidence in the final outcome of the fight and strength- 
ened the Administration both in Congress and in the 
nation. 

"It will not be postponed!" And the Senate Dem- 
ocrats in caucus agreed July 1 to remain in session until 
the trust bills were disposed of. Mr. Wilson had about 
convinced the leaders of the country, too, that instead 
of tearing up or destroying business, the trust bills were 
the remedies for many evils that modern business was 
heir to, and he was determined to end the war on busi- 
ness. He took every occasion to stress this point. Cer- 
tain bankers were opposed to the currency laws when 
these laws were for their benefit, and now the trust 
measures were being vigorously opposed although they 



THE DKSTRI ( HON OF MONOPOLY 151 

were for the benefit of the large corporations as well as 
of the people. But Big Business was so accustomed to 
see legislation initiated that was hostile to it, that it 
could not understand legislation that was really for the 
benefit of all legitimate business. It was afraid of the 
Greeks bearing gifts. 

Senate committees were working away on the three 
bills. Public hearings brought advice and hostile crit- 
icism from every state in the Union. The President was 
now resorting to his favorite tactics again. He, as well 
as the Senate committees, was consulting the leading busi- 
ness men of the nation. Bankers from New York, man- 
ufacturers from the Northwest, and business men of the 
West and South were consulted. He was using all the 
brains that he could borrow. Soon the report went out 
to the world that these prominent business men were, 
after all, not much opposed to the measures, but that 
they did express their opposition to certain objectionable 
features. These conferences were bringing a better un- 
derstanding between the Administration and the entire 
business world. 

When Congress first met to consider revising the tar- 
iff, Mr. Wilson held counsel chiefly with trusted mem- 
bers of his own party. Protectionists he did not care 
to talk with, and it is said that when men of prominence 
called on him, if they were known to be monopolists or 
advocates of monopoly, he admitted them to his pres- 
ence, "but without enthusiasm and only after seeing to 



152 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

it that the door should be left ajar to guarantee the piti- 
lessness of requisite publicity." 

However, as he became more and more acquainted with 
the country, and the rise and fall of public enthusiasm, 
his coldness and seclusion changed somewhat toward this 
class of citizens, and now that masters of business were 
directly concerned in the outcome of this last stage of 
the journey that the nation was taking, he very cordially 
admitted them into his counsel and sought their advice. 

In the midst of these consultations he sent in his nom- 
inations for membership on the Federal Reserve Board. 
The new currency law was about to be put into opera- 
tion, and he showed his confidence in the integrity of 
the masters of finance by appointing on this board Mr. 
Paul M. Warburg, a partner in the great banking house 
of Kiihn, Loeb and Company, and Mr. Thomas D. Jones, 
a director of the Harvester Company. 

These appointments aroused much opposition to the 
President in the Senate, where the anti-trust bills were 
still pending. And they were referred to as "the most 
striking evidence of the President's change of mind" 
toward business and business men. The greatest oppo- 
sition developed against Mr. Jones because of his con- 
nection with the Harvester Company, whose methods 
the government was then investigating, although Mr. 
Jones held only one share of stock in the company. 

The country seemed to be receiving the wrong impres- 



T1IK DESTRUCTION OF MONOPOLY 153 

sion concerning these men. Therefore, Mr. Wilson made 
the following declaration : 



"It wonl<l be particularly unfair to the Dem- 
ocratic party and the Senate itself to regard it as 
the enemy of business, big or little. I am sure 
that it does not regard a man as an object of 
suspicion merely because he has been connected 
with great business enterprises. It knows that 
the business of the country has been chiefly pro- 
moted in recent years by enterprises organized 
on a great scale and that the vast majority of 
the men connected with what we have come to 
call 'big business' are honest, incorruptible and 
patriotic. The country may be certain that it 
is clear to members of the Senate, as it is clear 
to all thoughtful men, that those who have tried 
to make 'big business' what it ought to be are 
the men to be encouraged and honored whenever 
they respond without reserve to the call of pub- 
lic service. 

"I predict with the greatest confidence that 
nothing done by the Democratic majority of the 
Senate of the United States will be of a sort to 
throw suspicion upon such men. Mr. Jones and 
Mr. Warburg, in manifesting their willingness 



154 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

to make personal sacrifices and put their great 
experience and ability at the service of the gov- 
ernment, without thought of personal advantage, 
in the organization of a great reform which 
promises to be so serviceable to the nation, are 
setting an example of patriotism and public spirit 
which the whole country admires. 

"It is the obvious business of statesmanship 
at this turning point in our development to rec- 
ognize ability and character whenever it has 
been displayed and unite every force for the up- 
building of legitimate business along the new 
lines which are now clearly indicated for the 
future. ' ' 

Mr. Warburg was accepted but Mr. Jones was rejected. 

For more than a year the Administration had been 
directing its force against the- methods of organized busi- 
ness. During that entire time business was very unre- 
sponsive, notwithstanding the tremendous resources of 
the country. The President insisted that no just reason 
existed for this depression. But it was a fact that busi- 
ness had lost its old-time buoyancy. The old emotions 
would not respond, doubtless, because the old stimulus 
had led to many unjust acts which were at this time the 
object of executive inquiry and legislative control. Pres- 
ident Wilson had asserted so vigorously that the cause 



THE DESTR1 (HON OP MONOPOLY 155 

of the depression was mainly psychological that even 
business was about to believe it. 

However, during this same period there was going 
on in Europe an adjustment of the finances owing to the 
Balkan War and other disturbing causes. Moreover, in 
America, the Mexican War and the possibilities of serious 
international complications were affecting trade and dis- 
turbing the money markets. And at this time, when the 
Senate was seriously considering the question of ad- 
journing and leaving the trust bills until a later session, 
the nations of Europe were still under the dread of fur- 
ther complications from the Balkan War, and they seemed 
to feel the hot breath of the approaching war god. All 
these extraordinary conditions had tremendous effect 
on business. Actual business conditions were sound, but 
the dread of what might happen tomorrow made busi- 
ness as inactive as the life of trade would permit. There- 
fore, M r hile the business men were engaged, and very 
seriously engaged, in studying these larger continental 
and world possibilities, they Avere pestered by the 
thought of what a Democratic Congress might do. It 
was irritating them to the limit of endurance. 

Mr. Wilson, however, had contended from the first 
that if the business of the country would understand the 
motives of the Administration in its so-called attack on 
business, all fears would be removed. The program 
did not contemplate a disturbance of business, but its 
great purpose was to set business free, and now (June 8, 



156 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

1914), fifteen months after the first .step was begun, 
President Woodrow Wilson, having about completed the 
three great steps of his New Freedom, was appealing 
to the Senate, "that those who have tried to make 'big 
business' what it ought to be are the men to be encour- 
aged and honored whenever they respond without reserve 
to the call of public service." There was still a severe 
fight ahead before the trust bills would be at all assured. 
But soon they, like the currency bill, began to lose much 
of their partisan characteristics. The nation's artists 
were seriously and industriously carving out the third 
great masterpiece. 

It was not until the last of July that the debate on 
the trust bills began in the Senate, and it had progressed 
only a few days when humanity's worst fears were real- 
ized — the great European war burst upon the world. 
However, the great fight on the Administration's pro- 
gram was about over. On August 5, four days after 
the beginning of the great war, the Senate passed the 
bill creating the Federal Trade Commission by a large 
majority — 56 to 16. The Clayton Omnibus bill was 
delayed for nearly another month, but on September 2 
it also passed the Senate by a large majority. The Sen- 
ate had made several important amendments to both 
bills, and it was not until September 10 that the Federal 
Trade Commission was finally enacted into law, and on 
October 5 the Clayton Omnibus bill became a law. Thus 
ended the long fight. The European war was creating 



THE DESTRUCTION OF MONOPOLY 157 

new issues, and Congress was unable to adjourn until 
certain temporary war measures were enacted. Then, on 
October 24, the long Congress came to a close, after 
having been continuously at work for 567 days — the 
longest period in the history of the country. 

The House sent over to the Senate three trust bills. 
But only two finally became laws. The Railway Cap- 
italization bill was lost in the Senate. However, the 
other two laws — the Federal Trade Commission and the 
Clayton Omnibus Anti-trust act — included the larger 
part of the President's programme. 

The Trade Commission Act establishes a Federal 
Trade Commission similar to the Interstate Commerce 
Commission, with the following duties and powers: 

1. It transfers to this Commission the powers and 
duties of the Bureau of Corporations and increases these 
duties in relation to the investigation of the affairs of 
corporations and of business methods and practices in 
general and in particular. 

2. It is empowered to prevent unfair competition and 
to investigate, upon application of the Attorney-General, 
and to make recommendations for the readjustment of 
the business of any corporation alleged to be violating 
the Anti-trust act, in order that it may thereafter con- 
duet its business in accordance with law. 

3. It is authorized to classify corporations and make 
rules and regulations for the enforcement of the act. 

4. It is charged with the duly to investigate trade 



158 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

conditions in and with foreign countries, where associa- 
tions, combinations, or practices of manufacturers may 
affect our foreign trade, and to report thereon to 
Congress. 

5. It makes the Commission an accessory to the 
courts for the preparation and execution of their decrees 
in anti-trust cases. 

The Clayton Anti-Trast Act is an omnibus measure, 
combining various provisions for curbing trust activ- 
ities. Its purpose is to complete the destruction of 
existing monopoly and to prevent the birth of further 
monopoly. Its specifications are as follows : 

1 . Price discriminations and tying-contracts are made 
unlawful when they substantially lessen competition. 

2. It forbids the existence of holding companies when 
they restrain commerce or tend to establish monopoly. 

3. Interlocking directorates among banks with re- 
sources of more than $5,000,000 must cease after two 
years. 

4. It provides that no one shall be an officer or direc- 
tor of more than one bank, and no person shall be a 
director in two or more large corporations if the corpo- 
rations are competitors. 

5. It provides that in case of private damage suits 
under the anti-trust laws, the decree in any government 
suit against the same defendant shall constitute prima 
facie evidence for the purposes of the private suits. 



THE DESTRUCTION OF MONOPOLY 159 

A comparison of these specifications with the recom- 
mendations of the President in his address to Congress 
on January 20 will show how completely his recommenda- 
tions were finally embodied into law. 



CHAPTER VII 

THE END OF THE OLD REGIME 

President Wilson outlined in his inaugural address 
with some degree of particularity the things that he con- 
sidered ought to be altered in order that every process 
of our national life might again square with the stand- 
ard " we so proudly set up at the beginning. ' ' But after 
eighteen months of hard work — a work of restoration, 
what is the result? 

The pressure of the European war has been so severe 
that men's minds have been wrenched violently away 
from those days when the President and Congress were 
approaching new affairs and perfecting the means by 
which this government may be put at the service of 
humanity. Therefore, the marvelous achievements in 
their totality have drifted out of men's consciousness. 
Some remember that period because of one act, while 
others because of a wholly different act. But the per- 
manent benefit to the whole country will have to be 
measured later, when all adjustments have been com- 
pleted and society, as a whole, responds to this new 
safeguarding of property and individual rights. Not 
until then can the historian adequately appraise the 
benefits to this nation. But what changes were made 

ICO 



THE END OF THE OLD REGIME 101 

in the functions of government that made the first half 
of Wilson's administration the end of an era.' 

The country at large believed that the old protective 
tariff in operation for so many years violated the just 
principles of taxation and cut the country off from its 
proper part in the commerce of the world. A new tariff 
law, therefore, was enacted in which neither lobby nor 
special interests had a hand in the making, but in which 
the people of the United States — laborers as well as 
manufacturers — have a fair opportunity to judge 
whether such a measure that has been an issue for a 
century is a panacea for industrial evils in this modern 
business age. Moreover, an income tax law was coupled 
with this new tariff law in order to meet the expected 
deficiency in the revenue and throw more of the burden 
of support upon great wealth rather than upon labor. 

In the place of the old laissez faire doctrine of indi- 
vidual license, that had resulted in a comparatively few 
men, more powerful than the rest, gaining control of 
the processes of government and the industrial life of 
the people, a government by commission was inaugurated. 
Commissions were clothed with authority to exercise "a 
watchful interference" over the selfish designs of men 
and protect the liberties of the people by preserving free 
and fair competition in this industrial age. This change 
in the processes of government is perhaps the most far- 
reaching in its consequences of any legislation since the 
beginning of the nineteenth century. 



162 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

The currency of the country was taken out of the hands 
of self-appointed trustees of the nation and placed in 
the hands of a government commission, the Federal 
Reserve Board. By this act the money-changers were 
driven from the temple of the nation and the currency 
of the country will henceforth flow in the interest of the 
little banker as well as the powerful money baron, in 
the interest of the laborer as well as the captain of in- 
dustry. The nation applauded this act and proclaimed 
abroad that "The Federal Reserve Law is enough to 
make any administration illustrious in history." 

Great corporations were also placed in the hands of a 
commission — the Federal Trade Commission. No longer 
would the captains of industry and finance be permitted 
to sit "at the levers of control" and make or mar at 
will the fortunes of friendly or rival concerns. The 
watchful interference of this commission was designed 
to permit young industries to develop without fear of 
the great corporations. Moreover, it was designed to 
direct the great as well as the small into safer channels 
where designing politicians and unscrupulous lawyers, 
who once fattened on the old Sherman Anti-trust law 
and kept business panicky, would be deprived of an 
unholy instrument. 

The powers and duties of the Interstate Commerce 
Commission were increased. This was the first of the 
commissions to be established and it served as a model 
for guidance in creating the other two. It was now 



THE END OF THE OLD REGIME 163 

empowered to exercise a certain control over the busi- 
ness transactions of railroads and other common carriers 
where free and fair competition might be interfered 
with. 

Through these commissions — the Federal Reserve 
Board, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Inter- 
state Commerce Commission — the large fields of business, 
finance and industry were brought under governmental 
control. This work of restoration that President Wilson 
outlined at the beginning of his administration was now 
completed and the nation's Constitution of Peace was 
written. 

However, there were still other things necessary to be 
done. But they pertained especially to the conservation 
and development of our national resources for the 
benefit of the whole people. President Wilson declared 
that Congress should address itself to this new problem 
with the same vigor that it employed in inaugurating a 
new government by commission. Nor did the administra- 
tion wait. The President called the nation's attention 
to the fact that our agricultural activities had never 
been given the efficiency of great business undertakings ; 
nor had they served the people as they should through 
the instrumentalities of science taken directly to the 
farm, or afforded the facilities of credit best suited to 
their practical needs. 

The Smith-Lever Agricultural Extension Act came as 
a result of this great demand. It was passed March 8. 



164 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

1914, appropriating about half a million dollars for im- 
mediate use by the Department of Agriculture and the 
colleges of the several states. However, the Act con- 
templates a gradual increase until the annual appropria- 
tion amounts to several million dollars. 

The mineral resources of Alaska were locked up in the 
Arctic Circle and were available only to corporations of 
great wealth. But in order that they might be employed 
by the nation as a whole, Congress authorized the Presi- 
dent to begin the construction of a thousand miles of 
trunk-line railway to connect the ports on the Pacific 
with the coal fields of the interior, and thus make avail- 
able for national use the almost unlimited coal of Alaska. 

Other measures of conservation were begun, such as 
the protection of forests and waterpower and mineral 
deposits. Moreover, movements looking to the conserva- 
tion of health and the encouragement of good roads and 
rural credits were begun. Then the European War 
appeared. 

Just at this time the American people were passing 
out of an old era into a new national life made possible 
by this Constitution of Peace. What the future would 
be was predicted with an assurance that brought hope 
to the souls of men who had suffered because of injustices 
in the nation. But as the transfer was about to be made, 
the European war closed up the past and gave a new 
era not only to America, but to the entire civilized 



THE END OF THE OLD REGIME 1(55 

world. Therefore, what the future will be even to 
America no man can prophesy with certainty. 

The great issues, therefore, in the second half of the 
Wilson Administration instead of pertaining largely to 
matters of strictly domestic concern, such as conserva- 
tion of public health and national resources, relate to 
the European war and we have neutrality, American 
rights on the high seas, preparedness, merchant marine, 
and commercial and educational preparedness as the 
paramount issues. 

Before approaching these new issues, however, it is 
accessary to take a survey of President Wilson's foreign 
policy during this period when the Constitution of Peace 
was being wrought out. 



CHAPTER VIII 

A NEW FOREIGN POLICY 

On March 4, 1913, when Woodrow Wilson took the 
oath of office as President of the United States, two grave 
responsibilities were laid upon his administration: (1) 
To set up the rule of right and justice in this nation; 
and (2) to maintain a just relation to all foreign nations. 

In the previous chapters we have seen how heroically 
he undertook the first task and with what success he 
inaugurated a set of reforms that were to affect the whole 
country. The second task, however, was not so simple, 
and the reason is obvious. In the first place, the Presi- 
dent of the United States, in dealing with foreign nations, 
must be guided by what foreigners and strangers to our 
ideals may do; and in the second place, international 
problems are not solved, as a rule, with that same regard 
for absolute right and justice as are domestic problems. 
Moreover, in dealing with intranational questions, the 
responsibility for the solution may be placed in a large 
measure upon Congress and the people. But in dealing 
with international questions, the responsibility for solu- 
tion is placed almost entirely upon the President of the 
United States. 

166 



A NEW FOREIGN POLK Y 167 

Perhaps the greatest difficulty to overcome in handling 
all international questions, is in securing a just rule of 
conduct that will be acceptable to the people who have 
little voice in establishing the rule and whose notions of 
how foreign affairs should be conducted are usually 
exceedingly selfish. 

National ideals with reference solely to domestic 
policies may be one thing ; but with reference to foreign 
affairs, quite another thing. It is often the case, if not 
the rule, that the two are as different as right and wrong. 
The functions of government operating intrastate may 
be guided by the eternal principles of right and justice 
as expressed in the Golden Rule; but operating inter- 
nationally, may be controlled by a selfishness and a greed 
that would be considered both immoral and even criminal, 
if the acts were those of a private citizen. Admiral 
Decatur's familiar toast — "Our Country! In her inter- 
course with Foreign Nations, may she always be in the 
right; but our Country, right or wrong" — is a fine 
expression of patriotism and a guarantee of national 
solidarity. However, the sentiment is merely a refine- 
ment of that primitive tribal religion which nationalized 
the deity, made polytheism a necessity and limited the 
rule of right and justice to tribal or national boundaries ; 
hence the sword as the final arbitrament of international 
disputes. 

Nations have made more progress in placing the rule 
of right above the power of might in domestic or national 



168 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

affairs than in international affairs. Therefore, the 
greatest problem of the statesman is to make international 
questions square by the same ethical standards that 
national questions are measured by. But as long as the 
difference between the two ideals is so great, civilization 
will be retarded by international jealousies and destruc- 
tive wars. 

When President Wilson was inaugurated he was at 
once confronted with certain very perplexing foreign 
problems: (1) A revolution in Mexico; (2) The rela- 
tion of this government to Latin American Republics ; 
and (3) The attitude of the European nations toward 
America because of the Panama tolls act which exempted 
American coast-wise vessels from the payment of tolls 
in passing through the Panama Canal. 

The New Executive was an untried man, only a 
political philosopher, and not only the people of America 
but of the whole civilized world were asking themselves 
this question: Plow will the new President approach 
the solution of these problems? 

The American people were demanding in one breath 
that the President hold the balances even when weighing 
matters of strictly domestic concern. But when con- 
sidering international questions, the vocal part of the 
American public seemed to be ready to heap reproach 
upon the administration if the balances failed to dip low 
on the American side, and such is the traditional attitude 
of the human race to international disputes. No executive 



A NEW FOREIGN POLICY 1^9 

had been able to establish a precedenl tiic justice of 
which was convincing to all nations without drawing 
upon himself the censure and even ridicule of a large 
part of his own people. Therefore, nations have too 
often resorted to might rather than right in the settle- 
ment of international disputes. It is the easier mode, 
though not a remedy. 

President Wilson, however, announced very emphatic- 
ally at the beginning of his administration that it would 
be his policy to set up the rule of right and justice in all 
international questions. This was a departure. A new 
precedent was about to be established. Was this nation 
entering a new era in diplomacy ? M en were wondering. 



CHAPTER IX 

THE PRESIDENT BROADENS THE MEANING OF 
THE MONROE DOCTRINE 

The revolution in Mexico was the most perplexing 
international problem that confronted the new adminis- 
tration. However, it had to be solved not with reference 
solely to Mexico and to the United States, but with refer- 
ence to all the other Latin American Republics. There- 
fore, it became necessary to establish first a new Pan 
American policy, or, in other words, to give the American 
people a broader meaning of the Monroe Doctrine. 

A few days after his inauguration, President Wilson 
outlined the policies that should guide him in all of his 
relations with the Latin American states, including 
Mexico. Each state was assured that "one of the chief 
objects of my administration will be to cultivate the 
friendship of all the Latin American states," and he- 
declared, "I earnestly desire the most cordial under- 
standing and cooperation between the people and the 
leaders of America." He then made this brief state- 
ment not only for North Americans, but for Central and 
South Americans to read and ponder over : 

170 



BROADENS THE MONROE DOCTRINE 171 

"Cooperation is possible only when supported 
at every turn by the orderly processes of just 
government, based upon law and not upon arbi- 
trary or irregular force. We hold, as I am sure 
all thoughtful leaders of republican government 
elsewhere hold, that just government rests always 
upon the consent of the governed, and that there 
can be no freedom without order, based upon 
law and upon public conscience and approval. 
We shall look to make these principles the basis 
of mutual intercourse, respect, and helpfulness 
between our sister republics and ourselves. 

"We shall lend our influence of every kind to 
the realization of these principles in fact and 
practice, knowing that disorder, personal intrigue 
and the denial of constitutional rights weaken 
and discredit government and injure none so 
much as the people who are unfortunate enough 
to have their common life and their common 
affairs so tainted and disturbed. 

"We can have no sympathy with those who seek 
to seize the power of government to advance their 
own personal interests or ambitions. We are the 
friends of peace, but we know that there can be no 
lasting or stable peace in such circumstances. As 
friends, therefore, we shall prefer those who act in 



172 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

the interests of peace and honor, who protect 
private rights and respect the restraints of con- 
stitutional provisions. Mutual respect seems to 
us the indispensable foundation of friendship 
between states as between individuals. 

"The United States has nothing to seek in 
Central and South America except the lasting 
interests of the peoples of the two continents, the 
security of governments, intended for the people, 
and for no special groups of interests; and the 
development of personal and trade relationships 
between the two continents, which shall redound 
to the advantage and profit of both and interfere 
in the liberties of neither. 

"From these principles may be read so much of 
the future policy of this government as it is 
necessary now to forecast; and in the spirit of 
these principles, I may, I hope, be permitted with 
as much confidence as earnestness to extend to the 
governments of all the republics of America the 
hand of genuine disinterested friendship and to 
pledge my own honor and the honor of my col- 
leagues to every enterprise of peace and amity 
that a fortunate future may disclose." 

This declaration of a general principle was very favor- 
ably received in this country. In fact, few, if any, of 



BROADENS THE MONROE DOCTRINE 173 

our public men have been .so fortunate in their power 
to generalize and state convincingly a general truth, as 
President Wilson. Therefore, the press, in the main, 
applauded his utterance, but predicted that the Admin- 
istration would find serious difficulty in making the 
practical application. There seemed to be a general 
impression that many, if not most, of the Latin American 
Republics would be incapable of understanding the 
President's meaning; and, it was feared that few of 
them would pay any attention to his words. 

In working out his domestic policies, President Wilson 
could state the general principles and leave the working 
out of the details to Congress. But the details of his 
foreign policy had to be worked out by him and his 
cabinet and such advice as he could draw from members 
of Congress. The burden of the work was thrown on 
the President and not on Congress. And the nation had 
to wait and watch for results. In the meantime the 
revolution continued in Mexico; stories of inhuman 
atrocities found their way across the border; and fear 
of European complications seized the minds of many 
nervous Americans. 

The press was doubtless in error as to the incapacity 
of the Latin Americans to understand President Wil- 
son's langauge. However, their fears that few of them 
would pay any attention to his words, were by no means 
without foundation. But the explanation is found rather 
in the historical policy of this nation than in a total 



174 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

incapacity of the Latin Americans to understand the 
President 's declaration. 

Suppose we notice the relation of the United States to 
Canada and to the Latin states. The line between Amer- 
icans and Canadians is not a very marked one. The fact 
that both are of the same race and speak the same 
language has much to do with the friendliness that exists. 
But the commercial, industrial, and social ties are 
equally as strong. On the other hand, the line between 
the citizens of the United States and the citizens of the 
Latin American states is very marked. They not only 
differ in race and in language, but the commercial, indus- 
trial, and social ties are very weak. 

In traveling from North America to South America, 
the route passes through European ports. If American 
bankers desired to transact business with Latin American 
bankers, the transaction is made in Europe ; if North 
Americans trades with South Americans, it is carried 
on for the most part in European vessels and through 
European ports. In other words, Brazil and Argentina 
are almost as far from the United States commercially, 
as the Transvaal or Australia was, and the two con- 
tinents of the Western Hemisphere, the homes of repub- 
lican government, are almost total strangers. But each 
country is tied strongly to the aristocratic and 
monarchical countries of Europe. 

It was the object of President Wilson's foreign policy 
to correct this anomalous condition, which was also 



BROADENS THE MONROE DOCTRINE 175 

responsible for the newspaper comments referred to 
above. But the cause for such a condition is found 
in the historic policy of this country toward the Latin 
American states, a review of which will doubtless 
throw some light on the subsequent acts of President 
Wilson. 

The United States was the first of the colonies of the 
two Americas to secure complete independence of its 
parent government of Europe. At once the other de- 
pendent colonies felt the thrill of a new political free- 
dom, and the Latin-American patriots turned their eyes 
toward the young nation in North America for help and 
inspiration. During the first two decades of the 19th 
century the hope of a closer union of the two Americas 
was planted in the hearts of the people north and south 
of the equator. But the European nations held such 
extensive colonies in the two Americas that every 
European war was the signal for inter-colonial strife. 
Therefore, the fortunes of war in Europe bore directly 
on the welfare of the colonies in the two Americas and 
what affected the colonies affected the United States. 
The thirteen states that composed the young republic 
of North America were hemmed in by the English on 
the north and the Spanish on the south and west. More- 
over, the leading nations of Europe had colonies in both 
North America and South America, and whichever way 
the weak republic looked it was confronted by European 
influences that were hostile to a republican form of 
government. 



176 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

President Washington saw early and very clearly that 
the greatest difficulties in the way of the success of the 
new republic were the influences of European monarchies 
working through their colonies on this continent. There- 
fore, in his farewell address to Congress, September 17, 
1796, he cautioned this country to "observe good faith 
and justice to all nations." But he added, "Against the 
insidious wiles of foreign influence, I conjure you to be- 
lieve me, fellow citizens, the jealousy of a free people 
ought to be constantly awake, since history and experi- 
ence prove that foreign influence is one of the most 
baneful foes of republican government. . . . The 
just rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign nations, 
is, in extending our commercial relations, to have with 
them as little political connection as possible — so far as 
we have already formed engagements, let them be ful- 
filled with perfect good faith — here let us stop." And 
he added, " 'Tis our policy to steer clear of permanent 
alliances with any portion of the foreign world ; — so far, 
I mean, as we are now at liberty to do it — for let me 
not be understood as capable of patronizing infidelity to 
existing engagements. . . . But in my opinion it is 
unnecessary and would be unwise to extend them." 

President Washington established the policy also that 
this nation could not be indifferent to the traffic in 
colonies by European nations in which sections of this 
continent were to be transferred from one nation to 
another. Therefore, when Napoleon took Louisiana from 



BROADENS THE MONROE DOCTRINE 177 

Spain, our purchase of that territory was facilitated by 
the controversy thai arose as a result of that transfer. 

At the same time it was reported that Florida was 
about to pass from Spain to England, and the foreign 
policy of the United States was clearly defined by Mr. 
King, our minister to Spain, in these words: "We are 
contented that the Floridas remain in the hands of 
Spain, but should not be willing to see them transferred, 
except to ourselves." 

Later both France and England were reminded of this 
policy when it appeared that Cuba was about to pass to 
one or the other of these nations, and in 1811 President 
Madison was authorized secretly by Congress to occupy 
Florida "subject to further negotiations," to keep that 
territory from passing into the hands of England or 
France. 

The European war at the beginning of the 19th 
century was occupying the energies of the European 
nations. Spain especially was about exhausted. The 
Spanish colonies in America took that opportunity to 
revolt and strike for independence (1810-1826). Even 
the United States was unable to avoid foreign complica- 
tions. The aristocratic, monarchial governments of 
Europe had a contempt for a republican government, 
and none knew that better and felt it more keenly than 
did the presidents of the United States, and the war of 
1812 was a necessity. Although the treaty of peace 
ended the war in Europe, the nations of Europe now 



178 WOODROW WILSON -AS PRESIDENT 

began to turn their attention to this hemisphere again. 

On September 26, 1815, the Emperors of Austria 
and Russia and the King of Prussia concluded at Paris 
a treaty which resulted in the Holy Alliance. Later 
France joined, and in 1822 one of the purposes of this 
treaty was declared to be, "to put an end to the system 
of representative governments." One of its first acts 
was to interfere in the affairs of Spain, and it was pro- 
posed to assist that country in regaining control over 
her revolted provinces in this hemisphere. Again 
the policy outlined by Washington and employed by his 
successors was restated by John Quincy Adams, Secre- 
tary of State under President Monroe. However, the 
activity of the Holy Alliance was so aggressive that 
President Monroe felt the necessity, on December 2, 1823, 
of sending the following message to Congress : 

' ' We owe it, therefore, to candor, and to the amicable 
relations existing between the United States and these 
foreign powers, to declare that we should consider any 
attempt on their part to extend their system to any 
portion of this hemisphere as dangerous to our peace 
and safety. With the existing colonies or dependencies 
of any European power we have not interfered and shall 
not interfere. But with the governments who have de- 
clared their independence and maintained it, and whose 
independence we have, on great consideration and on 
just principles, acknowledged, we could not view any 
interposition for the purpose of oppressing them, or con- 



BROADENS THE MONROE DOCTRINE 179 

trolling in any other manner their destiny, by any 
European power, in any other light than as the manifesta- 
tion of an unfriendly disposition toward the United 
States. . . . The late events in Spain and Portugal 
show that Europe is still unsettled. Of this important 
fact no stronger fact can be adduced than that the allied 
powers should have thought it proper, on any principle 
satisfactory to themselves, to have interposed, by force, 
in the internal affairs of Spain. . . . Our policy 
toward Europe is . . . not to interfere in the internal 
concerns of any of its powers . . . but in regard to 
these (the two Americas) continents, circumstances are 
eminently and conspicuously different. It is impossible 
that the allied powers should extend their political sys- 
tems to any portion of either continent without endan- 
gering our peace and happiness. Nor can any one believe 
that our Southern brethren, if left to themselves, would 
adopt it of their own accord. It is equally impossible. 
therefore, that we should behold such interposition in 
any form with indifference." 

Although this pronouncement was aimed primarily 
against the activities of the Holy Alliance, Presidenl 
Monroe used the occasion also to declare the policy of 
the nation as to the claims of Russia and England in 
the Northwest. He said: "The occasion has been 
judged proper for asserting as a principle in which the 
rights and interests of the United States are involved, 
that the American continents, bv the free and inde- 



180 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

pendent condition which they have assumed and main- 
tained, are henceforth not to be considered as subjects 
for future colonization by any European power." 

This foreign policy, outlined by Washington and 
adopted by Adams, Jefferson, and Madison, and enlarged 
by each, was stated in this definite way by President 
Monroe and has gone into history as the Monroe Doctrine. 
Its purposes were fourfold: (1) To protect the Latin 
American states against the interference of European 
nations and this policy was avowedly based on our right 
of self defense ; ( 2 ) to prevent further colonization in 
the Western Hemisphere by any European power; (3) to 
prohibit European powers from transferring colonies 
from one nation to another; and (4) to prevent the 
spread of monarchical ideas or principles in the Western 
Hemisphere. 

This doctrine was accepted by the nations of Europe 
as a definite foreign policy of this government. The 
fact that the United States made such marvelous develop- 
ment and was soon classed as one of the world powers 
gave to the Monroe Doctrine a potential danger for all 
European nations. Moreover, the additional fact that, 
in the days of slow transportation and primitive naval 
defense, three thousand miles intervened between the 
two hemispheres gave to the new Republic in the West 
a supremacy that went unchallenged by the monarchies 
of Europe. However, after this supremacy was recog- 
nized by European nations, the attitude of the United 



BROADENS THE MONROE DOCTRINE 181 

States toward the small states of Central and South 
America was not always that of a generous big brother 
toward younger and weaker brothers; and herein lies 
the secret of the haired of the Latin-American states for 
the United States. 

Although the European nations were estopped from 
destroying the independence of the Latin-American 
states, the Monroe Doctrine did not guarantee that these 
states would be free from conquest by the United States. 
Therefore, as the dangers from Europe diminished, the 
fears aroused by the imperialistic tendencies of the 
United States increased, and before many decades had 
passed, the Latin-American states partly on this account 
and partly on account of a social kinship, looked to 
Europe for help and sympathy while the stron'g arm of 
the United States reached out and took a part of their 
territory and was ever threatening to take more. 

The United States preferred to remain neutral in the 
first movement for a Pan American Union in 1825. But 
American citizens settled on Mexican soil and aided in 
securing the independence of Texas and later added thai 
territory to the United States. War with Mexico fol- 
lowed, and the southwestern states were taken from 
Mexico. Viewed from the standpoint of the Latin Amer- 
icans, it was not a question as to whether such a conquest 
worked to the advantage of the people annexed to the 
United States. Kut the all important question was what 
other territory would be seized bv the United States. 



182 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

Cuba, Santo Domingo, Haiti, and even Canada were 
threatened as the object of American greed ; and after 
that, what ? Central and South America had nothing to 
fear from Europe, but everything to fear from America ; 
and the fact that the United States did intervene in the 
interest of Mexico and of Venezuela proved to the 
world that the Monroe Doctrine was still a live Amer- 
ican policy. But to the Latin- Americans it was another 
reminder that the one powerful nation they had to fear 
was the United States. 

Moreover, the great financial interests of the United 
States and of Europe were permitted to dominate the 
domestic affairs of the Republics of Central and South 
America which had not developed as rapidly as the other 
nations of the world. Their governments were unstable, 
and their institutions were insecure. Therefore, the 
United States, having made such wonderful progress, 
naturally looked with condescension upon them ; and the 
people of the United States considered them legitimate 
fields for exploitation. Moreover, the business interests 
of America might adopt methods in these states that 
would not be tolerated at home, yet have the assurance 
that the American government would support them. 

Since the governments of these states were by nature 
unstable, the people were easily excited to the point of 
revolution, which was encouraged very often because 
outsiders hoped to gain by the change of rulers or the 
defeat of the dominant political party. If revolutioa 



BROADENS THE MONROE DOCTRINE 183 

was attempted and succeeded, and its Leader was able 

to proclaim himself President, his position would be 
made secure by the recognition of the United States be- 
cause it was supposed to be more immediately concerned 
in the preservation of order and the insurance of stabil- 
ity, and to have better means of ascertaining the facts. 
Having been accepted by the United States, "the 
usurper, the patriot, or the adventurer, and sometimes 
lie was one or both or a mixture of all three, was by 
right accorded his seat in the council of nations and had 
nothing more to fear until the next revolution." 

In this way the American government became an un- 
conscious offender against justice and liberty. Itself the 
home of constitutional government, it has seemed to 
hinder the development of constitutional government 
among its nearby neighbors. Certainly, it has given it 
little positive aid. The big brother was looked upon as 
a bully and the little brothers grew from decade to decade 
fearing and distrusting the motives of the big brother, 
and making more and more concessions to the European 
nations until the business of Central and South America 
was transferred for the most part to European centers. 
Meanwhile, the Latin- American states had made repeated 
efforts to form a union of the republics of this 
hemisphere. 

During the Administration of President Cleveland, 
however, sixty-five years after the Monroe Doctrine w;is 
proclaimed to the world, this nation took a determined 



184 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

step to cultivate the friendship of the Latin-American 
states. In 1888, Mr. Cleveland 's Secretary of State, Mr. 
Bayard, in accordance with an act of Congress, invited 
the several Latin-American republics to join the 
United States in a conference to be held at Wash- 
ington in 1889 to consider (1) measures to preserve 
peace and promote the prosperity of the Latin- American 
states, (2) forming American customs union; (3) fre- 
quent communications between the two continents; (1) 
uniform system of customs regulations; (5) uniform 
system of weights and measures and the protection of 
copyrights, trade-marks, etc.; (6) a common silver coin; 
(7) arbitration, and (8) the general welfare of the two 
continents. 

As a result of this invitation the first great Pan- 
American conference met in Washington, October 2, 
1889. In the meantime Benjamin Harrison had suc- 
ceeded Mr. Cleveland as President, and James G. Blaine 
was Secretary of State and presided over the Congress. 
The following countries were represented: Bolivia, 
Brazil, Columbia, Costa Rica, Guatamala, Honduras, 
Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, Salvador, The United States, 
Uruguay, Argentine Republic, Chili, Ecuador, Hayti, 
and Paraguay. The chief result of this Conference was 
the establishment in Washington of an International 
Bureau of American Republics for the collection and 
publication of information relating to commerce, prod- 
ucts, laws and customs of the countries represented. 



BROADENS THE MONROE DOCTRINE 



185 



The next stop in bringing about a better understanding 
between the two Americas was the act of the United 
States in interfering in the affairs of Cuba. It is true 
that America acquired Porto Rico and the Philippines, 
but the fact that this great nation secured the inde- 
pendence of Cuba and then guaranteed its independence, 
set a new standard in international conduct. A few 
years later (1901) President McKinley suggested that 
Mexico call the second Pan-American Congress to meet 
at the City of Mexico. Accordingly, it was called to 
meet October 22, 1901, and continued in session until 
January 31, 1902. The chief subject discussed at this 
conference was arbitration. The third Conference met 
at Rio de Janeiro in 1906, and the fourth at Buenos 
Aires in 1910. 

As a result of these conferences much of the current 
suspicion and distrust and even hatred was being dis- 
sipated, a better feeling was beginning to prevail, and 
when the Mexican Revolution broke out, the United 
States was in a fair way to convince the Latin-American 
states that the Monroe Doctrine was promulgated not 
only for the protection and benefit of the United States, 
but for this whole American hemisphere, and that when 
it ceases to serve all, it is not likely to be of any use 
to the United States. 

Such in outline is the historic policy of this nation 
toward the Latin-American republics. The way had 
already been prepared for a Pan-American Union. How- 



186 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

ever, there were fears and suspicions abiding still among 
the Latin-American republics. It was natural, therefore, 
for this suspicion to grow as the Revolution in Mexico 
called forth editorials in America demanding interven- 
tion in Mexico and annexation of a part or all of that 
country to the United States. History could easily 
supply the nations of this hemisphere with a very strik- 
ing parallel. 

Mr. Wilson, therefore, issued this first pronouncement 
for all the Latin-American states. However, within a 
few weeks he sent a representative into Mexico to assure 
the rulers of that distressed country of his great desire 
to be of assistance to the Mexican people. He did not 
have long to wait for an answer, and then he learned 
that his words were not accepted in good faith. The 
ancient suspicion and hatred flamed out anew, and the 
American government was powerless to aid the cause of 
humanity ; such were the fruits of an ancient foreign 
policy that permitted the scales of justice to dip low 
on the American side. It was then that the President 
adopted his "watchful waiting policy," but the press 
was clamoring for intervention and annexation. This 
newspaper attitude was so contrary to the President's 
pronouncement that it was difficult for the Latin- 
American states to understand the President's deep moral 
and humane purpose. Certainly, if it was impossible 
for Mr. Wilson's own friends to understand his policies, 
how could a people fundamentally unlike the people of 



BROADENS THE MONROE DOCTRINE 187 

the United States understand? The press urged the 
Latin-American stales to accept in good faith Mr. Wil- 
son's wise counsel, but at the same time it was clamoring 
for intervention in Mexico and annexation of territory. 
Therefore, another pronouncement became necessary. 

It was at the Southern Commercial Congress in Mobile, 
Alabama, October 27, lf)l-'!, thai Mr. Wilson very clearly 
and emphatically announced his Pan-American Policy. 
In his first pronouncement soon after his inauguration, 
he intimated that at a later date he would define his 
policy more in detail. The Mexican situation was ap- 
proaching a crisis and America was powerless to aid in 
the settlement; and, the South American states, taking 
their cue somewhat from the annexationists of America, 
still believed that the imperialistic policy of the United 
States was a great menace to their peace and prosperity. 
At this conference representatives were present, however, 
from all the leading Latin-American states. 

In order to appreciate the significance of the Mobile 
address, therefore, it is necessary to bear in mind that 
Mr. Wilson 's personal representative in Mexico had only 
recently notified Mr. Wilson of the futility of his at- 
tempts to accomplish anything in Mexico because of 
their deep seated hatred for the Americans. Moreover, 
the delegates from the Latin-American states were still 
mindful of the Revolution in Panama, and were able to 
read the editorials of the annexationists. Therefore, it 



188 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

was exceedingly difficult even for an American to know 
what the policy of this government was, to say nothing 
of the Latin-American. 

The President's Mobile speech is perhaps his most 
important utterance bearing on our relations with the 
other states of this hemisphere. He stood in one of the 
extreme southern cities. His face was turned toward the 
Gulf beyond which lay Republics that had been laboring 
for generations to bring forth constitutional government 
but had only partly succeeded. To their representatives 
as well as to ours he declared that the future "is going 
to be very different for this hemisphere from the past." 
Because the states lying to the South of us "will be 
drawn closer to us by innumerable ties, and, I hope, chief 
of all by the tie of a common understanding.'' 

"We must prove ourselves their friends and 
champions," he said "upon terms of equality and 
honor. You cannot be friends upon any other 
terms than upon the terms of equality. You 
cannot be friends at all except upon the terms of 
honor. We must show ourselves friends by com- 
prehending their interest, whether it squares with 
our own interest or not. It is a very perilous thing 
to determine the foreign policy of a nation in 
the terms of material interest. It not only is 



BROADENS TTTE MONROE DOCTRINE 189 

unfair to those with whom you are dealing, but 
it is degrading as regards your own actions. 

"Comprehension must be the soil in which 
shall grow all the fruits of friendship, and 
there is a reason and a compulsion lying behind 
all this, which are dearer than anything else to 
the thoughtful men of America. I mean the 
development of constitutional liberty in the world. 
Human rights, national integrity and opportunity, 
as against material interests — that is the issue 
which we now have to face." 

At this point he turned to the representatives of the 
Latin-American states and released a policy that caught 
the entire nation by surprise. 

"I want to take this occasion to say that the 
United States will never again seek one additional 
foot of territory by conquest. She will devote 
herself to showing that she knows how to make 
honorable and fruitful use of the territory she 
has. And she must regard it as one of the duties 
of friendship to see that from no quarter are 
material interests made superior to human liberty 
and national opportunity. T say this, not with 
a single thought that anyone will gainsay it, but 



190 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

merely to fix in our consciousness what our real 
relationship with the rest of America is. It is 
the relationship of a family of mankind devoted 
to the development of true constitutional liberty. 
We know that that is the soil out of which the 
best enterprise springs. We know that this is 
a cause which we are making in common with 
our neighbor, because we have had to make it for 
ourselves." 

He then spoke of our national problems that had been 
a leading topic of discussion at the Commercial Congress. 
The tariff laws had just been enacted and the currency 
hills were being stubbornly opposed in the Senate. 

''This is not America because it is rich," he 
said. "This is not America because it has set 
up for a great population great opportunities of 
material prosperity. America is a name which 
sounds in the ears of men everywhere as a syno- 
nym with individual opportunity, because a 
synonym of individual liberty. I would rather be- 
long to a poor nation that was free than to a rich 
nation that had ceased to be in love with liberty. 
But we shall not be poor if we love liberty, because 
the nation that loves liberty truly sets every 
man free to do his best and be his best; and that 



BROADENS THE MONROE DOCTRTNE 191 

means the release of all the splendid energies of 
a great people who think for themselves. A 
nation of employees cannot be free any more 
than a nation of employers can be." 

After emphasizing again the points which must unite 
the two Americas, he closed with these words: 

"It seems to me that this is a day of infinite 
hope, of confidence in a future greater than the 
past has been, for I am fain to believe that, in 
spite of all the things that we wish to correct, the 
nineteenth century that now lies behind us has 
brought us a long stage towards the time when, 
slowly ascending the tedious climb that leads 
to the final uplands, we shall get the ultimate view 
of the beauties of mankind. We have breasted a 
considerable part of that climb, and shall pres- 
ently — it may be in a generation or two — come out 
upon those great heights where there shines, unob- 
structed, the light of the justice of God." 

This address produced a variety of responses in this 
country. Some received it with enthusiasm and declared 
that it was an exalted utterance from a great leader. 
But others reacted as though thev had received a sudden 



192 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

shock and replied that "many will resent this assumption 
of authority to bind the American people to this policy." 
Between these two extremes was a third class who re- 
peated the statement that President Wilson's "idealism 
will not conform to that of the Mexicans." 

His foreign policy with reference to the Latin- 
American States was at last very definitely stated — "we 
must show ourselves friends by comprehending their in- 
terests, whether it squares with our interests or not." 
Therefore, the balances were to be held even. It must 
not dip low on the American side. And again — ' ' I want 
to take this occasion to say that the United States will 
never again seek one additional foot of territory by con- 
quest. " This emphatic statement did come as a shock 
to the annexationists who were clamoring for interven- 
tion and by their acts were making it difficult for the 
Latin-American States to understand the deep meaning 
of the President's foreign policy. 

It was a source of much annoyance to the business 
interests of the United States that South America was 
closer to Europe, commercially, industrially, and socially, 
than to North America. And though President Wilson 
was repeatedly calling the attention of the country to 
the necessity of shaping our foreign policy so that we 
would be considered the friends of the Latin-American 
States, the business of America seemed to insist that the 
United States should intervene in Mexico in order to 
protect American business in that war distracted country, 



BROADENS THE MONROE DOCTkIXE 193 

regardless of the effeel on the remainder of the Western 
Bemisphere. The President, however, was insisting that 
a new standard should be set, that the Monroe Doctrine 
should have a new meaning, and that the Western 
Hemisphere, the home of constitutional government, 
should have a more perfect onion of interests. There- 
fore, in his message to Congress, December 2, 1913, he 
declared : 

"There is only one possible standard by which 
to determine controversies between the United 
States and other nations, and that is compounded 
of these two elements : Our own honor and our 
obligations to the peace of the world. A test 
so compounded ought easily to be made to govern 
the establishment of new treaty obligations and 
the interpretation of those already assumed. . . . 

"We are the friends of constitutional govern- 
ment in America; we are more than its friends, 
we are its champions, because in no other way 
can our neighbors, to whom we would wish in 
every way to make proof of our friendship, work 
out their own development in peace and liberty." 

The Monroe Doctrine was at last taking on a new 
meaning or giving way to a new doctrine that was to 
supersede the historic policy that served this nation 



194 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

primarily and the Latin-American states incidentally in 
the earlier days of our national life. 

The old Monroe Doctrine was born in the fear of 
European interference. But this new doctrine had its 
birth, not in fear, but in a common friendship, a common 
sympathy and understanding among the Republics of the 
Western Hemisphere. 

This new foreign policy facilitated the forming of 
treaties with fifteen Latin-American States, which were 
negotiated by Secretary Bryan during the session of 
the Long Congress, and these new treaties showed the 
temper of the Latin American States in the fact that 
they seemed very willing to accept any offer from this 
nation that looked toward maintaining friendly rela- 
tions, or securing the peace and prosperity of the Re- 
publics of this hemisphere. 

It required more than a year for the President to 
convince even some of his friends that this nation would 
not make a war of conquest on any Latin-American 
state. Moreover, he held steadfastly to the policy that 
we should treat with the other republics on terms of 
equality and not as a superior to an inferior; and that 
his administration would prove to the world that it was 
the friend of constitutional government. 

His watchful waiting policy was one evidence of his 
friendship. His failure to recognize Huerta was another. 
But there was still another test to be made. Large 
business interests had so fastened their hold on the 



BROADENS THE MONROE DOCTRINE 195 

machinery of government in America and had so directed 
its processes that not only the domestic policies were 
controlled by them, but also the foreign policies with 
reference to the Latin-American States. It was merely 
the continuation of an historic policy to suffer Amer- 
icans to exploit the Latin American States for their own 
selfish interests. As a result our diplomatic relations 
with those states received the contemptuous name of 
"dollar diplomacy," since the diplomatic relations 
seemed to exist chiefly for the protection of American 
business in Central and South America. 

President Wilson declared at the beginning of his 
administration that "we shall prefer those who act in 
the interest of peace and honor." And again seven 
months later at Mobile he asserted that the Latin- 
American States "have had harder bargains driven 
with them in the matter of loans than any other 
peoples in the world." And he declared emphatically 
that this nation regards it "as one of the duties of friend- 
ship to see that from no quarter are material interests 
made superior to human liberty and national oppor- 
tunity." 

But even this Mobile speech was not convincing to the 
business of America that had extended its interests into 
these Republics. Therefore, on July 4, 1914, the Presi- 
dent declared in Independence Hall that one of the most 
serious questions for sober-minded men to address them- 
selves to in the United States is this: 



196 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

"What are we going to do with the influence 
and power of this great nation? Are we going 
to play the old role of using that power for our 
aggrandizement and material benefit only!" And 
then in a few words he told the American people 
that a limit to "dollar diplomacy" had been 
reached. 

"The Department of State at Washington," 
he said, "is constantly called upon to back up 
the commercial enterprises and industrial enter- 
prises of the United States in foreign countries, 
and it at one time went so far in that direction 
that all its diplomacy came to be designated as 
'dollar diplomacy.' It w T as called upon to sup- 
port every man who wanted to earn anything 
anywhere if he was an American. But there 
ought to be a limit to that. 

"There is no man more interested than I am 
in carrying the enterprise of American business 
men to every quarter of the globe. I was inter- 
ested in it long before I was suspected of being 
a politician. I have been preaching it year after 
year as the great thing that lay in the future 
for the United States, to show her wit and skill 
and enterprise and influence in every country in 
the world. But observe the limit to all that which 



BROADENS THE MONROE DOCTRINE 197 

is laid upon us perhaps more than upon any other 
nation in the world. We set this nation up, at 
any rate we professed to set it up, to vindicate 
the rights of men. We did not name any differ- 
ences between one race and another. We did not 
set up any barriers against any particular people. 
We opened our gates to all the world and said: 
'Let all men who wish to be free come to us and 
they will be welcome.' We said: 'This inde- 
pendence of ours is not a selfish thing for our 
own exclusive private use. It is for everybody 
for whom we can find the means of extending it.' 

"AVe cannot with that oath taken in our youth, 
we cannot with that great ideal set before us 
when we were a young people and numbered only 
a scant 3,000,000, take upon ourselves, now that 
we are 100,000,000 strong, any other conception 
of duty than we then entertained. 

"If American enterprise in foreign countries, 
particularly in those foreign countries which are 
not strong enough to resist us, takes the shape 
of imposing upon and exploiting the mass of the 
people of that country, it ought to be checked 
and not encouraged. I am willing to get anything 
for an American that money and enterprise can 
obtain except the suppression of the rights of 



198 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

other men. I will not help any man buy a power 
which he ought not to exercise over his fellow- 
beings. ' ' 

Thus, after sixteen months, President Wilson 's foreign 
policy as pertaining to Central and South America was 
clearly before the people, and briefly stated it is as 
follows : 

1. To treat the Latin- American States as friends and 
as equals. 

2. To respect and encourage constitutional govern- 
ment in the Americas. 

3. To acquire no new territory by conquest. 

4. To give no aid to American business operating in 
foreign countries in a way that would be illegal at home. 

5. To give no aid or encouragement to revolutionists 
who seek to seize the reins of government for their own 
advantage. 

President Wilson adhered to this policy until the 
European Avar broke on the world, and then events 
shaped themselves so rapidly that a New Pan-Ameri- 
canism with its roots in these policies grew rapidly. An 
understanding of those policies is necessary to a sym- 
pathetic attitude toward the President's Mexican policy 
which is an outgrowth of this larger Pan-American 
policy. 



CHAPTER X 

THE NEW AMERICAN POLICY APPLIED TO 
MEXICO 

The revolution in Mexico gave the most unfavorable 
opportunity for the application of an idealistic policy, 
since belligerents do not exalt the Golden Rule above 
the sword. However, there is a certain kinship and 
bond of sympathy among all the Latin- American states, 
and the new Pan-American policy was to include Mexico 
as well as the others. Therefore, its application under 
such unusual circumstance makes an interesting chapter 
in American history. 

Mexico, a mediaeval nation ruled by an absolute 
monarch, called President, after the custom of the West- 
ern Hemisphere, existed side by side with the United 
►States, a modern nation that had prospered under con- 
stitutional government. Such were the conditions in 
1910 when President Diaz felt his power crumbling 
away over smouldering fires due to uncivilized outrages 
committed against liberty in the name of liberty. 

The people of Mexico had suffered most from two 
great evils. First, a few landholders owned in vast 
estates, the greater part of the land of Mexico, and held 
a large part of the population in a state little better than 

199 



200 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

that of slavery. A kind of feudalism existed in which 
state the non-landowning class was little superior to the 
serfs and villains of the Middle Ages. Second, the 
national resources of the country were exploited by 
foreigners, who had bought privileges and monopolies 
of one kind and another from the President and who 
expected their native country to protect them in the 
enjoyment of their purchased rights. 

In 1910 Francisco Madero, leader of a great reform 
movement to restore representative government and free 
the masses from a state of slavery, became a candidate 
for the Presidency against Porfirio Diaz. To become a 
vigorous candidate against the Absolute was considered 
in itself an act of treason, and Madero was thrown into 
jail. However, the secret longings of the people for a 
change (they did not know what liberty was), for relief 
from conditions that would have been intolerable in a 
free country, gave the reform movement an enthusiasm 
which very naturally broke into an insurrection and 
later into a revolution. Madero in the meantime was 
liberated. By May, 1911, the storm had become so 
threatening that President Diaz abdicated and fled to 
Europe. Madero was the man of the hour, and in Oc- 
tober following he was elected President with little 
opposition. 

But the calamities and the unremedied wrongs of one 
long rule could not be remedied by the abdication of one 
man. A revolution had begun that was to shiver the 



THE NEW POLICY APPLIED TO MEXICO 201 

nation from the Presidency to the lot of the stolid peon 
in remote and forgotten districts. Moreover, Madero was 
not a wise president, and the military chiefs, resembling 
the feudal barons of the Middle Ages, began a reign 
of terror that was to break up the nation into groups 
of bandits, each of which was struggling for supreme 
power, while the masses were robbed and starved, out- 
raged and even massacred, in the name of liberty. 

Madero 's administration was short. In October, 1912, 
Peliz Diaz, nephew of the ex-President, organized a rev- 
olution, was captured and thrown into prison. Later he 
escaped and appeared at the capital with a large army. 
In February. 1018, General Victoriano Iluerta, Com- 
mander in Chief of the Madero forces, deserted his leader, 
led his army into the capital, forced Madero to resign, 
threw him into prison, and a few days later permitted 
him, with a few of his loyal supporters, to be assassinated. 
Then Iluerta was proclaimed President by his army, and 
the first hope of a constitutional government for Mexico 
\v;is destroyed. Such were the conditions prevailing in 
Mexico on March 4, 1913, when Woodrow Wilson became 
I 'resident of the United States. 

The revolution had been in progress more than two 
years when President Wilson was inaugurated. Like 
his predecessor in office, however, he was determined to 
keep hands off if possible and let the contending forces 
fight it out alone. Therefore, his first act was one Looking 
to neutrality. Two days after his firsl pronouncement he 



202 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

asked Congress for the authority to prohibit the sale of 
war munitions to all factions. In taking this step, he de- 
clared: "I shall follow the best practice of the nations 
in the matter of neutrality. . . . We cannot in the 
circumstances be the partisan of either party to the con- 
test that now distracts Mexico, or constitute ourselves 
the virtual umpire." 

However, he had already declared that "we can have 
no sympathy with those who seek to seize the power of 
government to advance their own personal interests and 
ambitions." Therefore, he refused to recognize Huerta, 
the dictator, or any other faction until he could secure 
better information as to the conditions surrounding the 
de facto government. 

Moreover, he was equally determined to convince the 
Latin- American Republics that this nation is the friend 
of constitutional government ; that it will treat with all 
republics of this hemisphere on a plane of equality ; that 
it will never again seek additional territory by conquest ; 
that it will not lend the offices of this government to pro- 
mote illegal business interests in foreign countries, and 
that it will not aid or encourage revolutionists or revo- 
lutions in any of the Latin-American states. He was 
now to be put to the test. His policies were being grad- 
ually unfolded and he was steadfast in his conviction 
that "the steady pressure of moral force will before 
many days break down the barriers of pride and preju- 
dice, and we shall triumph as Mexico 's friend sooner than 



THE NEW POLICY APPLIED TO MEXICO 203 

we could triumph as her enemy — and how much more 
handsomely, with how much higher and finer satisfaction 
of conscience and of honor!" 

It appeared, however, that the revolution might in- 
volve the United States in complications due to lawless 
acts on the part of all the contending parties. Moreover, 
European nations held tremendous business interests in 
Mexico, and, through outrages against foreigners, the 
Monroe Doctrine might become involved. Therefore, 
President Wilson sent Mr. John Lind, ex-Governor of 
Minnesota, his "personal spokesman and representa- 
tive to the City of Mexico. ' ' It should be stated here that 
the acts of the American Ambassador to Mexico were not 
entirely satisfactory to Mr. Wilson. Therefore. Mr. 
Lind was sent to Mexico, with instructions to press very 
earnestly upon the attention of those who were exercis- 
ing authority or wielding influence in Mexico the follow- 
ing considerations and advice : 

"The Government of the United States does not 
feel at liberty any longer to stand inactively by 
while it becomes daily more and more evident that 
no real progress is being made towards the estab- 
lishment of a Government at the City of Mexico 
which the country will obey and respect. 

"The Government of the United States does not 
stand in the same case with the other great govern- 



204 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

ments of the world in respect of what is happening 
or what is likely to happen in Mexico. We offer 
our good offices, not only because of our genuine 
desire to play the part of a friend, but also because 
we are expected by the powers of the world to act 
as Mexico's nearest friend. 

"We wish to act in these circumstances in the 
spirit of the most earnest and disinterested friend- 
ship. It is our purpose in whatever we do or 
propose in this perplexing and distressing situa- 
tion not only to pay the most scrupulous regard 
to the sovereignty and independence of Mexico — 
that we take as a matter of course to which we 
are bound by every obligation of right and honor 
— but also to give every possible evidence that we 
act in the interest of Mexico alone, and not in the 
interest of any person or body of persons who 
may have personal or property claims in Mexico 
which they may feel that they have the right to 
press. 

"We are seeking to counsel Mexico for her own 
good and in the interest of her own peace, and not 
for any other purpose whatsoever. The Govern- 
ment of the United States would deem itself dis- 
credited if it had any selfish or ulterior purpose 
in transactions where the peace, happiness, and 



THE NEW POLICE APPLIED TO MEXICO 205 

prosperity of a whole people are involved. Jt is 
acting as its friendship for Mexico, not as any 
selfish interest, dictates. 

"The present situation in Mexico is incom- 
patible with the fulfillment of international obliga- 
tions on the part of Mexico, with the civilized 
development of Mexico herself, and with the main- 
tenance of tolerable political and economic condi- 
tions in Central Mexico. It is upon no common 
occasion, therefore, that the United States offers 
her counsel and assistance. All America cries 
out for a settlement." 

He then advised Mr. Lincl to say to the factions in 
Mexico that a satisfactory settlement "seems to us to 
be conditioned" on the following: 

1. Immediate cessation of fighting throughout 

Mexico, a definite armistice solemnly entered into 
and scrupulously observed ; 

2. Security given for an early and free election 
in which all will agree to take part; 

3. The consent of General Huerta to bind him- 
self not to be a candidate for election as Presidenl 
of the Republic at this election: and 

4. The agreement of all parties to abide by the 
results of the election and cooperate in the most 



206 WOODROVV WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

loyal way in organizing and supporting the new- 
Administration. 

Mr. Lind was also instructed to assure the leaders that 
the Administration "will be glad to play any part in 
this settlement or in its carrying out which it can play 
honorably and consistently with international rights." 
But he added, if Mexico can show any better way in 
which this government can "serve the people of Mex- 
ico and meet our international obligations, we are more 
than willing to consider the suggestions." 

Mr. Wilson's personal representative set out for Mex- 
ico with these very definite instructions both for Huerta 
and for the opposing leaders. However, instead of re- 
ceiving a friendly response from those in authority, the 
ancient fears and suspicions and hatred of the Mexicans 
broke out anew. They seemed to feel instinctively that if 
the United States entered Mexico, the history of seventy 
years ago might be repeated. Therefore, neither faction 
would accept the President 's proffered kindness. Huerta, 
the Dictator, of course, rejected the proposals. He had 
been led to believe that the American government would 
recognize him as President of Mexico. But when these 
instructions reached him, he knew there was no aid to 
be desired from this nation, and no sympathy from Pres- 
ident Wilson. His hatred for the American government 
became apparent; and from this time he exhibited a 
bitter hostility toward all Americans. 



THE NEW POLICY APPLIED TO MEXICO 207 

The opposing leaders also rejected the proposals, al- 
though the proposals were in harmony with what the 
leaders were fighting for. The leaders were evidently 
afraid of the Greeks bearing gifts, and they intimated to 
Mr. Lind that the greatest kindness America could extend 
to Mexico would be to let their country absolutely alone. 

Mr. Lind remained in Mexico several weeks, hoping 
to convince the leaders of the revolution that this nation 
was the friend of the Mexicans and desired only to aid 
that country in bringing about peace. But his visit 
Mas in vain. Neither Huerta nor any of the "authorities 
at the City of Mexico" would accept the proffered kind- 
ness of this government. Therefore, on August 27, 1913, 
President Wilson appeared before Congress and gave 
to that body "the facts concerning our present relations 
with the Republic of Mexico.'' 

He told the Senators and Members of his great desire 
to aid in restoring peace and order to Mexico and in 
seeing self-government really established in that war- 
distracted country. But he added: 

"The present circumstances of the republic, I 
deeply regret to say, do not seem to promise even 
the foundations of such a peace. We have waited 
many months, months full of peril and anxiety, 
for the conditions there to improve, and they have 
not improved. They have grown worse, rather. 



208 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

The territory controlled in some sort by the provi- 
sional authorities at Mexico City has grown 
smaller, not larger. The prospect of the pacifica- 
tion of the country, even by arms, has seemed to 
grow more and more remote; and its pacification 
by the authorities at the Capital is evidently im- 
possible by any other means than force. Difficulties 
more and more entangle those who claim to con- 
stitute the legitimate government of the republic. 
They have not made their claim in fact. Their 
successes in the field have proved only temporary. 
War and disorder, devastation and confusion, 
seem to threaten to become the settled fortune of 
the distracted country." 

Mr. Lind's delicate mission and the proposals sent to 
the leaders in Mexico were then described. But the Sen- 
ators and Members were waiting for the climax, which 
came when the President told them that all of his pro- 
posals were rejected because the Mexicans did not believe 
in the fairness and disinterestedness of the American 
people. Therefore, they did not believe "that the pres- 
ent Administration spoke, through Mr. Lind, for the 
people of the United States." 

There was some justification, too, for this attitude of 
the Mexicans. They did not have to remember the Mex- 
ican War of the forties for proof. All they had to do 



THE NEW POLICY APPLIED TO MEXICO 209 

was to read those American newspapers thai were clam- 
oring for war and declaring that if the American flag 

was ever raised in .Mexico, it would never come down. 
While 3Ir. Lind was in .Mexico, there was an accumula- 
tion of evidence to convince a foreigner who was not 
fully acquainted with the habits of the American peo- 
ple, that Mr. Wilson did not speak the sentiments of Hit; 
people of the United States. 

"The effect of this unfortunate misunderstand- 
ing on their part," the President continued, "is 
to leave them singularly isolated and without 
friends who can effectually aid them. So long as 
the misunderstanding continues we can only wait 
the lime of their awakening to a realization of the 
actual facts. "We cannot thrust our good offices 
upon them. The situation must be given a little 
more time to work itself out in the new circum- 
stances, and I believe that only a little time will 
be necessary; for the circumstances are new. 
The rejection of our friendship makes them new 
and will inevitably bring its own alteration in the 
aspect of affairs. The actual situation of the 
authorities in Mexico City will presently be 
revealed. 

"But what is it our duty to do? It is now our 
duty," he said, "to show what true neutrality will 



210 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

do to enable the people of Mexico to set their 
affairs in order again, and wait for a further op- 
portunity to offer our friendly counsel." 

However, American citizens in Mexico and non-com- 
batants in general would suffer from the increased activ- 
ity of the contending factions. The President argued, 
however, that the position of outsiders is always par- 
ticularly trying and full of hazard when there is civil 
strife and the whole country is upset. Therefore, he 
advised that Americans should leave Mexico. 

"We should earnestly urge all Americans to 
leave Mexico at once, and should assist them to 
get away in every way possible — not because we 
would mean to slacken in the least our efforts to 
safeguard their lives and their interests, but be- 
cause it is imperative that they should take no 
unnecessary risks when it is physically possible 
for them to leave the country. We should let 
every one who assumes to exercise authority in any 
part of Mexico know in the most unequivocal way 
that we shall vigilantly watch the fortunes of those 
Americans who cannot get away, and shall hold 
those responsible for their sufferings and losses 
to a definite reckoning. That can be and will be 



THE NEW POLICY APPLIED TO MEXICO 211 

made plain beyond the possibility of a misunder- 
standing. 

"For the rest, I deem it my duly to exercise the 
authority conferred upon me by the law of March 
4, 1912, to see to it that neither side to the struggle 
now going on in Mexico receive any assistance 
from this side of the border. I shall follow the 
best practice of nations in the matter of neutrality 
by forbidding the exportation of arms or muni- 
tions of war of any kind from the United States to 
any part of the Republic of Mexico — a policy 
suggested by several interesting precedents and 
certainly dictated by many manifest considera- 
tions of practical expediency. We cannot in the 
circumstances be the partisans of either party to 
the contest that now distracts Mexico, or con- 
stitute ourselves the virtual umpire between them. 

"I am happy to say that several of the great 
Governments of the world have given this Govern- 
ment their generous moral support in urging upon 
the provisional authorities at the City of Mexico 
the acceptance of our proffered good offices in the 
spirit in which they were made. We have not 
acted in this matter under the ordinary principles 
of international obligation. All the world expects 
us in such circumstances to act as Mexico's nearest 



212 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

friend and intimate adviser. This is our im- 
memorial relation toward her." 

In the main, this address to Congress was favorably 
received by the American people. However, a consid- 
erable number had a feeling of disgust after reading it. 
Many editorials were written declaring that this great 
and powerful nation should step in and take possession 
of Mexico and hold it, until the Mexicans, like the 
Cubans, could become a self-governing people. More- 
over, there were many extremists who openly declared 
that we should annex Mexico to this nation. And the 
controversy waged in this country. Other writers asked 
what right have we to annex Mexico? Why should 
American lives be destroyed in order to protect European 
and American interests in Mexico? So many opinions 
were expressed pro and con that honest Americans might 
have come reasonably to the Mexican conclusion that an 
American army in Mexico would mean a repetition of the 
acts of the forties. 

Mr. "Wilson knew of the real condition of the people in 
Mexico. He understood their fears and their purposes, 
and he settled down to a "watchful waiting policy" 
that was exasperating to the annexationists. 

Neutrality was the order of the day. An embargo 
was placed on arms, and the Mexican factions were let 
alone and left to destroy one another until their madness 



THE NEW POLICY APPLIED TO MEXICO 213 

should pass. These acts had their effect on General 

Iluerta, whose power seemed to be gradually waning. 

Two months later, on December 1', 1913, President 
Wilson appeared at the Capitol to "give Congress in- 
formation of the state of the Union." He explained that 
his policy was gradually eliminating Iluerta from the 
Revolution. The Dictator's power was declining, and 
constitutional government, he argued, was sure to win, 
and this was being accomplished without bloodshed or 
loss of honor to Americans. Then he added: 

"There can be no certain prospects of peace in 
America until General Huerta has surrendered his 
usurped authority in Mexico; until it is under- 
stood on all hands, indeed, that such pretended 
governments will not be countenanced or dealt 
with by the Government of the United States." 

Then, for the first time, he spoke fully of his opinion 
of conditions in Mexico. He had waited until he could 
secure complete information. 

"Mexico lias no Government," lie spoke with 
feeling-. "The attempt to maintain one at the City 
of Mexico has broken down, and a mere military 
despotism has been setup which lias hardly more 
than the semblance of national authority. It 
originated in the usurpation of Victoriano Iluerta, 



214 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

who, after a brief attempt to play the part of con- 
stitutional President, has at last cast aside even 
the pretense of legal right and declared himself 
Dictator. As a consequence, a condition of affairs 
now exists in Mexico which has made it doubtful 
whether even the most elementary and funda- 
mental rights either of her own people or of the 
citizens of other countries resident within her ter- 
ritory can long be successfully safeguarded, and 
which threatens, if long continued, to imperil the 
interests of peace, order, and tolerable life in the 
lands immediately to the south of us. 

"Even if the usurper had succeeded in his pur- 
poses, in despite of the constitution of the Republic 
and the rights of its people, he would have set up 
nothing but a precarious and hateful power which 
could have lasted but a little while, and whose 
eventual downfall would have left the country in 
a more deplorable condition than ever. But he 
has not succeeded. He has forfeited the respect 
and the moral support even of those who were at 
one time willing to see him succeed. Little by 
little he has been completely isolated. By a little 
every day his power and prestige are crumbling 
and the collapse is not far away. We shall not, I 
believe, be obliged to alter our policy of watchful 



THE NEW POLICY APPLIED TO MEXICO 215 

waiting. And then, when the end comes, we shall 
hope to see constitutional order restored in dis- 
tressed Mexico by the concert and energy of such 
of her leaders as prefer the liberty of their people 
to their own ambitions." 

While President Wilson was holding to his watchful 
wailing policy, the revolutionists in Mexico were destroy- 
ing private property of American and European owners. 
The loss of the oil industry of the British was especially 
great, and the Monroe Doctrine again came in for much 
discussion, both in this country and in Europe. But 
Lord Haldane, an Englishman, in a notable address 
showed that the British statesmen had caught the spirit 
of the Wilson Administration and the deeper meaning 
of the Monroe Doctrine when he declared, "all who live 
and trade on the great American continent may feel that 
she (the United States) has set before her a high ideal 
to secure for them equally with her own subjects thai 
justice and righteousness of which President Wilson 
has spoken." And exd 'resident Taft about the same 
time referred to the Monroe Doctrine as one of our 
"greatest national assets" and urged the American peo- 
ple to uphold President Wilson in his altitude toward 
Mexico. Then public sentiment began to show signs of 
clearing up. 

The fact that the United States refused to recognize 
Iluerta as the constitutional President of .Mexico insured 



216 WOODKOW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

his defeat in the end, since the financial centers of the 
world were exceedingly shy about making any entangling 
alliances with him. Iluerta was by nature a dictator, 
and as is usually the case with such rulers, a man of 
considerable force. One less brave would have been 
swept away by the storm. But Huerta held on with a 
tenacity that was exasperating to the United States and 
disconcerting to his enemies in his own country. 

The revolution began in the attempt to destroy abso- 
lutism and restore constitutional government. Therefore, 
as long as Huerta was president, there seemed to be no 
hope for the nation. Kealizing this fact, and seeing 
how tenaciously the old Dictator held on, President WU^ 
son changed his attitude somewhat, and on February 2, 
1914, he raised the embargo on arms so far as the Con- 
stitutionalists were concerned, but prohibited the expor- 
tation to the Huerta government. By throwing the good 
will of the nation on the side of the Constitutionalists, 
it was believed that Iluerta would be driven from the 
presidency which he had usurped. 

This act, however, was the signal for the old Dictator 
to exhibit a hatred for Americans that was destined to 
involve this nation in the embroilment, in spite of the 
President's firm resolve to take no active part in the 
revolution. One indignity after another made an ac- 
cumulation of outrages that called for a prompt response 
from this nation. Therefore, President Wilson appeared 
before Congress on April 20, 1914, and told the story of 



THE NEW POLICY APPLIED TO MEXICO 217 

Huerta 's indignities and asked for permission to send 

;m armed force into Mexico. The story in substance is 
as follows: 

On April 9 a paymaster of the United States ship 
Dolphin, while engaged in official duties, was arrested in 
Tampico by a squad of men of the army of General 
Huerta. A few days later an orderly from the United 
States ship Minnesota was arrested at Vera Cruz while 
active in uniform to obtain the ships mail, and was 
thrown into jail. Moreover, an official dispatch from 
this government to Mexico City was withheld by tel- 
egraphic authorities until preemptorily demanded by the 
American government. 

The paymaster of the Dolphin was released by Huerta 
and apologies and expressions of regret followed from 
both the commander at Tampico and from General 
Huerta. However, Admiral Mayo, in command of the 
American fleet, thought that the incident called for 
more than mere apologies and expressions of regret. 
Therefore, he demanded that "the flag of the United 
States be saluted with special ceremony by the military 
eommander of the port." Here the old Dictator balked. 

The affair remained in this state between Euerta and 
Admiral Mayo for several days. In the meantime, the 
other indignities mentioned above were reported to the 
Administration. On the 18th, President Wilson made 
peremptory demand that the salute should be forth- 
coming on the following day. Still the old Dictator 



218 WOOHROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

refused to comply with the demands except upon certain 
conditions. And on April 20, eleven days after the 
Tampico incident, Mr. Wilson appeared before Congress 
and laid the story of these indignities before the Senators 
and Members. 

1 'So far as I can learn," he said, "such wrongs 
and annoyances have been suffered to occur only 
against representatives of the United States. I 
have heard of no complaints from other Govern- 
ments of similar treatment. Subsequent explana- 
tions and formal apologies did not and could not 
alter the popular impression, which it is possible 
it had been the object of the Huertista authorities 
to create, that the Government of the United 
States was being singled out, and might be singled 
out with impunity, for slights and affronts in re- 
taliation for its refusal to recognize the preten- 
sions of General Huerta to be regarded as the con- 
stitutional provisional President of the Republic 
of Mexico." 

He then advised Congress that this nation should com- 
pel Huerta to comply with the demands of Admiral 
Mayo. 

"It was necessary," he said, "that the apologies 
of General Huerta and his representatives should 



THE NEW POLICY APPLIED TO MEXICO 219 

go much further, that they should be such as to 
attract the attention of the whole population to 
their significance, and such as to impress upon 
General Huerta himself the necessity of seeing to 
it that no further occasion for explanations and 
professed regrets should arise. I, therefore, felt 
it my duty to sustain Admiral Mayo in the whole 
of his demand and to insist that the flag of the 
United States should be saluted in such a way as 
to indicate a new spirit and attitude on the part 
of the Huertistas." 

Congress, as well as the American people, were assured 
that this government would avoid war if possible. But 
if armed conflict came, "We should be fighting," he said, 
"only General Huerta and those who adhere to him 
and give him their support." 

' 'No doubt I could do what is necessary in the 
circumstances to enforce respect for our Govern- 
ment without recourse to the Congress, and yet not 
exceed my constitutional powers as President, but 
I do not wash to act in a matter possibly of so 
grave consequence except in close conference and 
cooperation with both the Senate and the House. 
I, therefore, come to ask your approval that I 
should use the armed forces of the United States 



220 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

in such ways and to such an extent as may be 
necessary to obtain from General Huerta and his 
adherents the fullest recognition of the rights and 
dignity of the United States, even amidst the dis- 
tressing conditions now unhappily obtaining in 
Mexico." 

Again the President assured the world that 
' ' there can in what we do be no thought of aggres- 
sion or of selfish aggrandizement" and ''our 
object would be only to restore to the people of the 
distracted Eepublic the opportunity to setup again 
their own laws and their own government." 

Meanwhile leaders of both parties in Congress had 
been consulted and a resolution was offered declaring 
"that the President of the United States is justified in 
the employment of the armed forces of the United States 
to enforce demands" made upon Huerta for a failure to 
make amends for affronts and indignities "committed 
against this government." 

There was a tendency on the part of a few Senators 
to criticize the President for asking for the use of force 
merely because of the indignities to the flag. It was in 
reply to these criticisms that Senator Root of New York 
came to the assistance of the President in a strong ad- 
dress, in which he said : 

"The insult to the flag is but a part — the culmination 



THE NEW POLICY APPLIED TO MEXICO 221 

of a long series of violations of American rights, a long 
series of violations of those rights which ii is the duty 
• it' our country to protect — violatioE no1 for the mosl 
part of government, bu1 made possible by the weakness 
of government, because through thai country range free- 
booters and chieftains like the captains of free companies, 
without control or responsibility. Lying back of this 
incident is a condition of things in Mexico which abso- 
lutely prevents the protection of American life and prop- 
erty, except through the respect for the American flag, 
the American uniform, the American government. It 
is that which gives significance to the demand that pub- 
lic respect be paid to the flag of the United States. There 
is our justification. It is a justification lying not in 
Vietoriana Iluerta or in his conduct, hut in the universal 
condition of affairs in Mexico; and the real object to be 
attained by the course which we arc asked to approve is 
not the gratification of personal pride. It is not. the 
satisfaction of an admiral or a government. It is the 
preservation of the power of the United States to protect 
its citizens under these conditions." 

The resolution was adopted with practical unanimity. 
President Wilson's year of watchful waiting had at last 
come to a close, as it seemed, and many declared thai 
the American flag once raised over Mexican territory 
would never come down. 

On the day following the President's address. Ad- 
miral Fletcher was instructed to seize the customs house 



222 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

at Vera Cruz. A desultory resistance was offered by 
the Mexican forces, resulting in the death of four 
of our men. A state of war between the United States 
and Mexico now existed. The President asked for 
an appropriation of a half million dollars "to bring to 
their homes in the United States American citizens in 
Mexico." Our naval forces were massed on the Mex- 
ican coast, an army was at last landed on Mexican soil, 
and Vera Cruz was soon in possession of the American 
forces. However, the American army ended its conquest 
with the fall of Vera Cruz. Good government was re- 
stored to the city, and soon it became as peaceful as any 
American city. But other dangers threatened. 

Notwithstanding this act, which the President and 
Congress considered necessary to protect the citizens of 
America, and notwithstanding the fact that the war on 
Iluerta would aid his opponents, the Constitutionalists 
protested vigorously and even threatened to resist the 
American army for landing on Mexican soil; although 
they were neither able to protect American citizens nor 
dislodge the Dictator. It seemed to be quite evident, 
therefore, that America was powerless to aid either fac- 
tion, and that to make war on one would unify all 
factions and produce a solid resistance to America. The 
ancient hatred of the Mexican for the Americans was 
still greater than the hatred of one faction for another. 

When President Wilson ordered the Atlantic fleet to 
Vera Cruz, however, he started a series of events which, 



Till: \i:\\ POLICY APPLIED TO MEXICO 003 

to the ordinary mind, meant war in Mexico. The annex* 
ationists really did rejoice for the time being. But the 
real friends of peace had a feeling of amazement and 
mortification, while others sought to make political cap- 
ital out of the incident. However, the day after the 
occupation of Vera Cruz by the American forces, a new 
factor appeared — one that was to play an important 
part in the relations between America and all the Latin- 
American Republics. 

On April 25 the diplomatic representatives at Washing- 
ton of Argentina, Brazil and Chile made a formal offer 
of the good offices of their respective governments to 
bring about a peaceful and friendly settlement of the 
controversy between the Government of Mexico and the 
United States. This act showed the beneficial effects of 
the President's unselfish policy in the South American 
Republic. It was. at last, making a greater Pan American 
union possible and giving a new meaning to the 
Monroe Doctrine. 

The South Americans were the kinsmen of the Mex- 
icans, and the people of this southern continent were 
convinced now that the United States, as long as Wood- 
row Wilson was President, would not make a war of 
conquest on Mexico. Moreover, they realized that 
President Wilson \ V;1 s keeping steadily in view his pur- 
pose, by peace if he could, by war if he must, to work 
an issue honorable for the United States and as beneficial 
as possible to Mexico. Therefore, the tender of the good 



224 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

offices of Argentine, Brazil and Chile prophesied better 
things for Mexico and a better relation between the 
United States and the South American Republics. 

The President, therefore, very promptly accepted the 
offer of the South American Republics, and on May 20, 
1914, the A. B. C. Mediators, as they were called, began 
their conference at Niagara Falls. Both the United 
States and Huerta's government also had representatives 
present. 

Although the President had been subjected to the 
fiercest criticism because of his Mexican policy, he showed 
no signs that the criticism sank into his soul until he 
stood in the presence of the dead sailors killed in Vera 
Cruz. In a short speech he gave expression to a senti- 
ment as well as to his feelings that touched those who 
read it. 

"I never went into battle, I never was under 
fire," he said, "but I fancy that there are some 
things just as hard to do as to go under fire. I 
fancy that it is just as hard to do your duty when 
men are sneering at you as when they are shooting 
at you. When they shoot at you, they can only 
take your natural life; when they sneer at you, 
they can wound your heart." 

Although Vera Cruz was seized by American forces, 
President Wilson took every possible public occasion to 



THE NEW POLICY APPLIED TO MEXICO 225 

assure the American people thai there was something 
even greater and more heroic for the United States to 
do than to go to war with either faction in Mexico, and 
that while force had been used, he was steadfast in his 
belief that the "moral compulsions of the human con- 
science" would at last triumph over war. However, there 
were many Americans who wanted more war. They in- 
sisted that the American army should go on to Mexico 
City. They sneered at the proffered services of the 
A. B. C. Mediators and abused the President for accept- 
ing them. 

But in an address June 5 to the naval cadets at Annap- 
olis, he showed that he had no thought of going further 
with the war, if it could be avoided. 

"What do you think is the most lasting impres- 
sion that these boys down at Vera Cruz are going 
to leave:' They have had to use some force — I 
pray to God it may not be necessary for them to 
use any more — but do you think that the way they 
fought is going to be the most lasting impression? 
Have men not fought ever since the world began? 
Is there anything now in using force 1 ? The new 
tilings in the world are the tilings that arc 
divorced from force. The tilings thai show the 
moral compulsions of the human conscience, these 
are the things by which we have been building up 



226 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

civilization, not by force, And the lasting impres- 
sion that those boys are going- to leave is this, 
that they exercise self-control ; that they were dili- 
gent and ready to make the place where they went 
fitter to live in than they found it; that they re- 
garded other people's rights; that they did not 
strut and bluster, but went quietly, like self- 
respecting gentlemen, about their legitimate work. 
And the people of Vera Cruz, who feared the 
Americans and despised the Americans, are going 
to get a very different taste in their mouths when 
the boys of the navy and the army come away. 
Is that not something to be proud of, that you 
know how to use force like men of conscience and 
like gentlemen serving your fellow-men and not 
trying to overcome thein?" 

President "Wilson was evidently establishing an un- 
usual precedent. The annexationists in America could 
not understand his language, nor appreciate his purpose. 
They believed that war would settle war and why the 
United States hesitated to march on to the capital of 
Mexico was beyond their comprehension. 

In the meantime the A. B. C. Mediators were making 
progress. Although the task of establishing individual 
peace in Mexico was almost a hopeless one from the be- 
ginning, it was made clear to the Latin- American states 



THE NEW POLICY APPLIED TO MEXICO 227 

that peace was impossible while Huerta remained in 

authority. The American government would not be sat- 
isfied now with a .compliance of Admiral Mayo's demands. 
The old Dictator must abdicate and give the friends of 
constitutional government a chance to restore peace and 
order. And on June 11, the peace conferees announced 
thai they had agreed on the transfer of authority in 
Mexico and the establishment of a new government. 
Not until then did General Carranza, chief of the Con- 
stitutionalists, consent to send representatives to the 
Conference. 

The Niagara Conference came to a close on July 1. 
It was agreed in a protocol that Huerta must not stand in 
the way of constitutional government, or, in other words, 
that he must abdicate. On the other hand, the United 
States was bound to recognize the provisional government 
to be set up in Mexico through the offices of the confer- 
ence, to restore diplomatic relations with Mexico and to 
exact no indemnity whatever, but Mexico was to agree to 
take measures for the payment of all just claims for the 
destruction of the property of foreign residents. And 
the withdrawal of the American troops from Vera Cruz 
was left to a future agreement. Although the agreement 
among the mediators and the delegates had no legal 
force, as a treaty would have between well established 
governments, it did have a tremendous moral effect. 

Meanwhile the Constitutionalists were very active. 
Thev were drawing their forces nearer and nearer to 



228 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

the Capital. The attitude of the American Government 
to them made it easy for them to secure the supplies 
they needed. 

The conference was adjourned, the Constitutionalists 
were more and more successful, and the nations were 
waiting for something to happen. There was much 
speculation as to what Huerta would do under the cir- 
cumstances. On July 5, he was reelected president. 
But three days later he presented the protocol to the 
Mexican Congress and on the 15th he delivered his 
formal address to the two houses of the Mexican Congress 
and left his native country forever. 

President Wilson's policy had at last succeeded, and 
it was now in great favor. The nations of the world 
were applauding. "The steady pressure of moral force" 
was breaking down the barriers of pride and prejudice, 
and it seemed that we were about to triumph as Mexico ? s 
friend. 



CHAPTER XI 

PRESIDENT WILSON'S RELATIONS WITH 
GENERAL CARRANZA 

There was a sigh of relief in America when Ilucrla 
abdicated. But many people in this country believed 
that he was the only man with sufficient nerve and 
shrewdness to keep the Mexican bandits down. This 
was also the view of many foreigners then living in 
Mexico. 

His abdication left the country really in the hands of 
the Constitutionalists. General Venustiano Carranza had 
been First Chief of the Constitutionalists since the death 
of Francisco Madero, and he at once became the central 
figure of Mexico. But there were two other Constitu- 
tionalists in Mexico whom General Carranza had to 
reckon with. General Francisco Villa and General 
Zapata. The Constitutionalists were by no means united 
and the Character of both Villa and of Zapata was such 
that little hope was entertained of a peaceful settlement 
without further bloodshed. 

There was a cessation of hostilities, however, and on 
August 20 General Carranza made his triumphal entry 
into Mexico City. It was a peaceful entry. The city 

220 



230 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

was prepared for his coming. Crowds came out to wel- 
come him and flowers were strewn in his path. And as 
he marched into the city he was hailed as the liberator 
of the people. And for the second time constitutional 
government seemed to be ready to enter upon its rights 
and find an abiding place in the ancient capital of the 
Montezumas. 

It was for this that the American government had 
been waiting rather impatiently. Then the American 
flag was lowered at Vera Cruz (September 15), and the 
American army was transported back to American soil. 
Thus ended our "little war" in Mexico, and it was 
believed for the time that President Wilson's "watchful 
waiting" policy would triumph in the end. However, 
the distracted country had not yet suffered enough. The 
pentecost of calamity was still incomplete. 

On September 15 General Carranza expressed his in- 
tention to turn over the control of the Mexican govern- 
ment to a provisional President, to be selected by the 
Constitutionalists and to become a candidate for the pres- 
idency. The other leaders had no love for Carranza, nor 
he for them. He was characterized as a narrow, selfish 
man, somewhat of a patriot and an idealist, but possess- 
ing an individual greed for power and an intense hatred 
of all foreigners, including Americans. The other two 
leaders had a history of lawlessness and bandit warfare 
to their credit that made them objectionable to any civil- 
ized country. 



RELATIONS WITH GENERAL CARRANZLA 231 

When General Carranza's program was announced, 
Villa and Zapata made common cause, and on September 
23 declared war against him. Thus the bitter struggle 
was resumed. Meanwhile. President Wilson fell back 
on his "watchful waiting" policy and showed a deter- 
mination to let the warring factions fight out their 
differences without interference from this country. 

Again there was a loud demand for intervention. Some 
wanted the President to recognize Carranza and throw 
the weight of this country on his side. Others insisted 
that Villa, whose daring exploits in the North were well 
known, was the real patriot and that he should be rec- 
ognized and encouraged. But the President announced 
his purpose of keeping this country neutral in the new 
war. 

Mr. Samuel G. Blythe published in the Saturday 
Evening Post an authorized interview with President 
Wilson, in which he explained why he was determined 
not to interfere in the settlement of old abuses in Mexico. 

"It is a curious thing,' * he said, "that every 
demand for the establishment of order in Mexico 
takes into consideration, not order for the benefit 
of the people of Mexico, the great mass of the 
population, but order for the benefit of the old- 
time regime, for the aristocrats, for the vested 
interests, for the men who are responsible for this 



232 W'OODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

very condition of disorder. No one asks for order 
because order will help the masses of the people 
to get a portion of their rights and their land; 
but all demand it so that the great owners of 
property, the overlords, the hidalgos, the men who 
have exploited that rich country for their own 
selfish purposes, shall be able to continue their 
processes undisturbed by the protests of the people 
from whom their wealth and power have been 
obtained." 

Neutrality was more difficult to maintain now because 
of the European war, which seemed to arouse the fight- 
ing instinct throughout the civilized world. Therefore, 
every new story of indignities to Americans or to the 
American flag that found its way across the border from 
Mexico was seized upon by those who had favored inter- 
vention from the beginning and trailed through the 
newspapers to arouse the Americans. As this factional 
warfare continued, the American border was harrassed 
by roving bandits and the stories of outrages inflicted 
on Americans were multiplied. However, President Wil- 
son adhered to his "watchful waiting" policy. He had 
by peaceful means rid Mexico of its Dictator, and he 
was firm in his conviction that non-interference would 
cause the United States to triumph in the end as Mexico 's 
friend, and that constitutional government after the 



RELATIONS WITH GENERAL CARRANZA 233 

pentecost would be more enduring than any temporary 
peace that might be forced on Mexico through a bloody 

intervention. 

The press in many sections of the country was relent- 
less in its condemnation of the President. American 

property was being destroyed. American citizens were 
outraged. Moreover, the balance of the civilized world 
was at war, and the United States was the only great 
nation whose armies were not active. So severe was the 
abuse that President Wilson, in an address before the 
Jackson Club of Indianapolis, January, 1915, gave a 
curt reply to his critics : 

"I want to say a word about Mexico." ho said, 
"not so much about Mexico as about our attitude 
towards Mexico. I hold it as a fundamental prin- 
ciple, and so do you, that every people has the 
right to determine its own form of government, 
and until this recent revolution in Mexico, until 
the end of the Diaz regime, eighty per cent of the 
people of Mexico. never had a 'look in' in deter- 
mining who should be their governors, or what 
their government should be. Now, I am for the 
eighty per cent. It is none of my business, and il 
is none of your business how T long they take in 
determining it. It is none of my business and 
it is none of your business how they go about the 



234 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

business. The country is theirs. The government 
is theirs. The liberty, if they can get it, and God 
speed them in getting it, is theirs. And so far as 
my influence goes, while I am President, nobody 
shall interfere with them. 

"Do you suppose that the American people are 
ever going to count a small amount of material 
benefit and advantage to people doing business in 
Mexico against the liberty and permanent happi- 
ness of the Mexican people? Have not European 
nations taken as long as they wanted and spilt as 
much blood as they pleased in settling their 
affairs, and shall we deny that to Mexico because 
she is weak? No, I say, I am proud to belong to 
a strong nation that says, 'This country, which 
we could crush, shall have just as much freedom in 
her own affairs as we have. If I am strong I am 
ashamed to bully the weak. In proportion to my 
strength is my pride in withholding that strength 
from the oppression of another people.' And I 
know when I speak these things, not merely from 
the gracious response with which they have just 
met from you, but from my long time knowledge 
of the American people, that that is the sentiment 
of the American people." 



RELATIONS WITH GENERAL CARRANZA 935 

However, the infinite capacity of the Mexican loaders 
to quarrel and scrap, and of the people to endure op- 
pression and to suffer the extremes of distress, was draw- 
ing heavily on the President's patience. The innumer- 
able stories that came up from the border contained some 
real accounts of positive outrages; and the factions were 
powerless to protect the American border states. It was 
with difficulty that the Administration sifted the real 
from the false. Moreover, coupled with these realities, 
came stories of intolerable conditions in Mexico, due to 
disease and famine, that arose as a protest against the 
long struggle between the warring factions. There was 
no central authority in Mexico with which this nation 
could treat, and the end of the revolution seemed to be 
farther away than it appeared to be when President Wil- 
son was inaugurated. 

After waiting all spring for the chiefs to put an end 
to their differences. Presidenl Wilson, on June 2, 1015, 
announced that he was preparing to alter his watchful 
waiting policy. In an address issued to the American 
people, he said : 

"For more than two years revolutionary condi- 
tions have existed in Mexico. The purpose of the 
revolution was to rid Mexico of men who ignored 
the Constitution of the Republic and used their 
power in contempt of the rights of its people, and 
with these purposes the people of the United 



236 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

States instinctively and generously sympathized. 
But the leaders of the revolution, in the very hour 
of their success, have disagreed and turned their 
arms against one another. All professing the 
same objects, they are, nevertheless, unable or 
unwilling to cooperate. A central authority at 
Mexico City is no sooner set up than it is under- 
mined and its authority denied by those who were 
expected to support it. 

"Mexico is apparently no nearer a solution of 
her tragical troubles than she was when the revolu- 
tion was first kindled. And she has been swept 
by civil war as if by fire. Her crops are destroyed, 
her fields lie unseeded, her people flee to the moun- 
tains to escape being drawn into unavailing blood- 
shed, and no man seems to see or lead the way to 
peace and settled order. There is no proper pro- 
tection, either, for her own citizens, or for the 
citizens of other nations resident and at work 
within her territories. Mexico is starving and 
without a government. 

"In these circumstances the people and the 
Government of the United States cannot stand 
indifferently by and do nothing to serve their 
neighbor. They want nothing for themselves in 
Mexico. Least of all do they desire to settle her 



RELATIONS WITH GENERAL CARRANZA 2.°»7 

affairs for her, or claim any right to do so. Bui 
neither do they wish to see utter ruin conic upon 
her, and they deem it their duty as friends and 
neighbors to lend any aid they properly can to 
any instrumentality which promises to be effective 
in bringing aboul a settlement which will embody 
the real object of the revolution — constitutional 
government and the rights of the people. 

"Patriotic Mexicans are sick at heart and cry 
out for peace and for every self-sacrifice that may- 
he necessary to procure it. Their people cry out 
for food and will presently hate as much as they 
fear every man in their country or out of it who 
stands hetween them and their daily bread. 

"And it is time, therefore, that the government 
of the United States should frankly state the 
policies which in these extraordinary circum- 
stances, it becomes its duty to adopt. It must 
presently do what it has not, hitherto done or felt 
at liberty to do, lend its active moral support to 
some men or group of men, if such may he found, 
who can rally the suffering people of Mexico to 
their support in an effort to ignore, if they cannot 
unite, the warring factions of the country, return 
to the constitution of the republic so long in abey- 
ance, and set up a government at Mexico City 



238 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

which the great powers of the world can recognize 
and deal with — a government with whom the pro- 
gram of the revolution will be a business and 
not merely a platform. 

"I, therefore, publicly and very solemnly, call 
upon the leaders of factions in Mexico to act, to 
act together, and to act promptly for the relief 
and redemption of their prostrate country. I feel 
it to be my duty to tell them, if they cannot accom- 
modate their differences and unite for this great 
purpose within a short time, this government will 
be constrained to decide what means should be 
employed by the United States in order to help 
Mexico save herself and serve her people. ' ' 

This address was the signal for renewed activity on 
the part of the combatants. They seemed to be playing 
to the American galleries and watching for approval 
from the American administration. During the month 
of June, so variable were the fortunes of war that the 
Mexican capital changed hands three different times. The 
President, therefore, decided to act. 

In August diplomatic representatives at Washington 
of six of the Republics of Central and South America 
met with the Secretary of State to discuss again means 
for ending the chaos in Mexico. The result was an appeal 
by the seven diplomats (August 14) to certain Mexicans 



RELATIONS WITH GENERAL CARRANZA 239 

who possessed authority or power. It proposed a con- 
ference of those directing the armed movements in .Mex- 
ico and offered help in adjusting the differences between 
the warring factions. 

General Villa accepted at once the proposals, and for 
a time he was a popular hero in America, regardless of 
his past life. But General Carranza rejected all pro- 
posals and pointed out the dangers which might ensue 
from any interference. He believed that the Mexicans 
must fight it out alone and his suspicion of all foreigners 
would not permit him to consent for this country to aid 
in settling the difficulties. 

The diplomats, however, met again on September 18, 
1915, and agreed to recognize the leader who at the end 
of three weeks had best demonstrated his ability to main- 
tain order. Accordingly, on October 19, the United 
States and eight of the Republics of Central and South 
America extended formal recognition to General Car- 
ranza. That meant, of course, that the good will of the 
nations was thrown against all other factions in Mexico, 
including Villa, the soldier of fortune, who had had such 
a spectacular career. 

Thus, after more than a year of factional strife. Gen- 
eral Carranza was recognized as the head of the de facto 
government. lie seemed to be the only leader with suf- 
ficient patriotism to restore order. The distressed coun- 
try was sorely in need of a patriot who could and would 
restore constitutional government In Mexico. Bandit 



240 WOODROVY WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

chieftains had plundered the country long enough. The 
Republics of the two Americas, acting jointly, therefore 
chose General Carranza for the delicate and very respon- 
sible undertaking. 

To the careful students of the Mexican revolution, it 
had become a settled conviction that permanent order 
must come through the leadership of a real Mexican 
patriot, and not through intervention. Three of the 
Latin-American Republics aided the United States in 
dethroning Huerta, the Dictator. But since that time, 
the President had convinced the Republics of this hemi- 
sphere that he was standing firmly by his early policy 
to see right and justice prevail, regardless of the tem- 
porary inconveniences to the border states or the loss of 
foreign business in Mexico. This spirit of fair play had 
at last won over eight of the Latin- American Republics, 
which were now fully convinced that the great American 
nation would exercise patience with the weak and dis- 
tressed Mexican republic. A Pan American union was 
now possible, and even the Mexican people, who two 
years before would not even consider President "Wilson's 
proposals, seemed now to be in a state of mind to listen 
to advice. 

The recognition of General Carranza as head of the 
de facto government in Mexico greatly strengthened his 
position. He now had the advantage over all the fac- 
tional chiefs who were hostile to him. since they were 
unable to buy easily and legally munitions of war. Con- 



RELATIONS WITH GENERAL CARRANZA 241 

sequently, many of the factional soldiery of Mexico went 
over to his standard, taking solid regiments with them. 
However, General Francisco Villa, perhaps the ablest 
military chieftain in .Mexico, lost both prestige and 
power, and as he saw his rival rising because of the ad- 
vantage given him by this nation especially, he, like 
Ilnei'ta, the Dictator, became the more desperate and 
dangerous, breathing out insane threats against all 
Americans. 

The savage nature of the man who had risen from a 
peon to a general of recognized ability, broke out in all 
of its primitive bitterness, and he followed up his threats 
with lawless acts of such violence that the entire Amer- 
ican border was thrown into a state of confusion. His 
stronghold was the Province of Chihuahua, that borders 
the states of Texas and New Mexico. General Carran/.a 
seemed powerless to curb his bloody deeds or to protect 
the American border. Shocking murders of American 
mining men in Mexico were reported. Ranches and set- 
tlements were looted, and as Villa moved northward 
toward the Rio Grande, El Paso and other American 
towns were thrown into a state of panic. 

The Administration was giving General Carranza a 
fair opportunity to restore order. At the same time the 
American troops stationed along the border were warned 
as to the designs of the bandits to wreak vengeance on 
American citizens. As Villa's insane hatred for Amer- 
icans increased, it became more and more apparent that 



242 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

this nation would be compelled to act in self-defense. 
This seemed to be what Villa desired above everything 
else. The American army in Mexico might so inflame 
the Mexicans that even Carranza's leadership would be 
destroyed. His army, therefore, was turned against 
America now, rather than against his old enemy. 

It was known to the American government early in 
March, 1916, that Villa was perhaps planning to attack 
certain American towns. He seemed to be headed to- 
wards Columbus, New Mexico, one of the more than 
forty points along the border which formed headquarters 
or centers for detachments of American soldiers. The 
authorities of Columbus were even warned as to Villa's 
designs. 

On the night of March 9 the bandits, like a cyclone, 
struck the little town. The inhabitants and the garrison 
were unprepared. After some confusion, however, the 
soldiers drove the Mexicans across the border and, pur- 
suing, killed about sixty of them. But Villa and his 
bandits made good their escape — leaving about twenty 
soldiers and citizens of Columbus slain. 

The Administration acted promptly. On the day after 
the raid, the following statement was issued from the 
White House: 

"An adequate force will be sent at once in pur- 
suit of Villa, with the single object of capturing' 
him and putting a stop to his forays. This can 



RELATIONS WITH GENERAL CARRANZA 243 

and will be done in entirely friendly aid of con- 
stituted authority in Mexico, and with scrupulous 
respect for the sovereignty of that Republic." 

It would have been an easy task for the Administration 
to rush American soldiers into Mexico, and this is evi- 
dently what Villa thought would he done. But it was 
the policy of the Administration to convince General 
Carranza that America was cooperating with him to end 
the lawlessness in northern Mexico, which he was not 
temporarily prepared to accomplish. General Punston 
was placed in command of the American forces, with 
instructions to capture Villa. But at the same time 
every possihle effort was made to conciliate Carranza 
and to save Mexican pride. 

However, the successor to the Montezumas was no easy 
ruler to deal with. He seemed to live in a world of make- 
believe, while blood and murder and famine passed by 
his headquarters. He spoke of his government with 
quixotic enthusiasm, and seemed to take it as a slight 
that the President of the United States did not consider 
him amply able to cope with the situation. Moreover, he 
seemed to look upon the bandit attacks as a mere tem- 
porary incoiivenien.ee to this country, until he could get 
his hands on the situation. And he gave preemptory 
orders for the capture of the bandits, without having 
sufficient force even to reach the border. 

The American government, however, was compelled 



244 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

not only to stop this border warfare, but it had to be 
done in such a way, if possible, as not to arouse the 
ancient hatred of the Mexicans, nor to disturb the pride 
of General Venustiano Carranza, First Chief of the Con- 
stitutionalists. 

"Would this quixotic leader permit our government to 
send troops into Mexico to capture the bandits? That 
was the question that this nation discussed for several 
days. And he sat at his little headquarters and delib- 
erated over that question as though he had the whole of 
Central and South America at his back. Then, after 
some delay, he very grudgingly gave his formal consent 
on the condition that Mexican troops might have a cor- 
responding privilege of crossing the line into the United 
States in pursuit of outlaws. 

This privilege was promptly granted by the American 
Administration. But it had become quite evident to this 
government that in dealing with such a man as General 
Carranza, we were in extreme danger of war with Mex- 
ico, and this was especially true if the old hero should 
fall into designing hands just at this critical moment. 

As the American forces advanced into Mexico, the 
problem of securing supplies became a perplexing one. 
The Administration had to request the Carranza gov- 
ernment to give General Funston permission to use the 
railroads, and after some delay this also was grudgingly 
granted. The greatest difficulty of the American forces, 
however, was not in pursuing Villa, but in so conducting 



RELATIONS WITH GENERAL ( ARRANZA 245 

the expedition as not to inflame the Mexicans. Since 
the latter danger was always present, it was necessary 
to carry a force sufficiently large to make it undesirable 
for any considerable body of Mexicans to attack the 
Americans. 

Bui General Carranza's attitude was now favorable 
and the President used every precaution possible to make 
it comprehensible to the people of both countries thai we 
had no designs upon Mexican territory and that we did 
not desire to interfere unduly with their affairs. Not- 
withstanding Mr. Wilson's repeated assurances, how- 
ever, there seemed to be reactionaries both in America 
and in Mexico who were determined to bring about 
intervention. Certain business interests seemed to 
have the same designs as General Villa had. Therefore, 
on March 25, President Wilson issued an address to the 
American people which was at the same time a warning 
to the "unscrupulous influences" at work along the 
border: 

"As has already been announced," lie said, "the 
expedition into Mexico was ordered under an 
agreement with the de facto Government of 
Mexico for the single purpose of taking- the bandit 
Villa, whose forces had actually invaded the ter- 
ritory of the United States, and is in no sense in- 
tended as an invasion of that Eepublic or as an 
infringement of its sovereignty. 



246 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

"I have, therefore, asked the several news 
services to be good enough to assist the adminis- 
tration in keeping this view of the expedition con- 
stantly before both the people of this country and 
the distressed and sensitive people of Mexico, who 
are very susceptible, indeed, to impressions re- 
ceived from the American press not only, but also 
very ready to believe that these impressions pro- 
ceed from the views and objects of our Government 
itself. Such conclusions, it must be said, are not 
unnatural, because the main, if not the only, source 
of information for the people on both sides of the 
border is the public press of the United States. 

"In order to avoid the creation of erroneous 
and dangerous impressions in this way I have 
called upon the several news agencies to use the 
utmost care not to give news stories regarding 
this expedition the color of war, to withhold 
stories of troop movements and military prepara- 
tions which might be given that interpretation, 
and to refrain from publishing unverified rumors 
of unrest in Mexico. 

"I feel that it is most desirable to impress upon 
both our own people and the people of Mexico the 
fact that the expedition is simply a necessary 



RELATIONS Willi GENERAL CARRANZA 247 

punitive measure, aimed solely at the elimination 
of the marauders who raided Columbus and who 
infest an unprotected district near the border, 
which they use as a base in making attacks upon 
the lives and property of our citizens within our 
own territory. It is the purpose of our com- 
manders to cooperate in every possible way with 
the forces of General Carranza in removing this 
cause of irritation to both Governments, and to 
retire from Mexican territory so soon as that 
object is accomplished. 

"It is my duty to warn the people of the United 
States that there are persons all along the border 
who are actively engaged in originating and giv- 
ing as wide currency as they can to rumors of the 
most sensational and disturbing sort, which are 
wholly unjustified by the facts. The object of this 
traffic in falsehood is obvious. It is to create in- 
tolerable friction between the Government of the 
Unitedi States and the de facto Government of 
.Mexico for the purpose of bringing about inter- 
vention in the interest of certain American own- 
ers of Mexican properties. This object cannot be 
attained so long as sane and honorable men are 
in control of this Government, but very serious 
conditions may be created, unnecessary bloodshed 



248 WOODEOW WILSON AS PEESIDENT 

may result, and the relations between the two re- 
publics may be very much embarrassed. 

"The people of the United States should know 
the sinister and unscrupulous influences that are 
afoot, and should be on their guard against credit- 
ing any story coming from the border; and those 
who disseminate the news should make it a matter 
of patriotism and of conscience to test the source 
and authenticity of every report they receive from 
that quarter. ' ' 

General Carranza's position was made still more dif- 
ficult by these "unscrupulous influences," and he in as 
plain words as President Wilson used, attributed the 
inspiration of the border raids, designed to involve the 
United States in trouble with Mexico, to Mexican "re- 
actionaries." These, together with the "reactionaries" 
in America — owners of Mexican land, mines, oil wells 
and railroads — seemed to be deliberately trying to pre- 
cipitate revolution. Not all of these were Americans. 
Englishmen, Frenchmen, Germans and Spaniards have 
large holdings in Mexico, and they all looked to the 
United States Government, because of its historic policy, 
to find a way for them to obtain compensation. 

Thus the Mexican question was full of perplexities 
that were bewildering in the extreme. There seemed to 
be a sort of conspiracy on the part of certain Americans 



RELATIONS WITH GENERAL CARRANZA 249 

and foreigners to plunge this country into war, in spite 
of the efforts of the President to deal fairly with Car- 
ranza and put an end to the strife in Mexico. And when 
the President was seemingly unmoved by the many 
stories of murder and pillage that came up from across 
the border, he was attacked by the press and others hos- 
tile to his policies for not protecting American citizens 
and upholding the honor and dignity of this countrj. 
The President's note of warning, therefore, called atteu 
tion to an enemy greater than Carranza or even Villa— 
those who were trafficking in falsehoods in order "to 
create intolerable friction between the government of 
the United States and the de facto government of Mexico 
for the purpose of bringing about intervention in the 
interest of certain American owners of Mexican 
properties. ' ' 

The American army was now driving southward i'i 
search of Villa, whose army was broken up into small, 
roving bands and scattered throughout the mountainous 
districts. In the meantime, General Obregon, Carranza's 
Minister of War and the rising figure in Mexico, sent a 
troop of 5,000 natives to assist in the pursuit of Villa 
and his scattered bands of marauders. Thus the two 
armies were acting in conjunct inn, and the end of the 
revolution seemed to be near at hand, provided the native 
Mexicans, who were ignoranl and suspicious of cv ry 
move on the pai't of the Americans, were not aroused to 
resist the advance of the American troops, which were 



250 WOODROW WILSON AS PEESIDEXT 

having fierce encounters with bands of Villa's disinte- 
grated army. 

After one fierce encounter, in which Colonel Dodd of 
the American cavalry surprised a company of Villa's 
army, it was reported that Villa was wounded, and later 
that he was dead. Many believed this report to be a pure 
fabrication. Anyway it had the desired effect, and there 
arose a demand for the withdrawal of the American forces 
from Mexico, since the object for which the Americans 
sought had been removed. 

Whether Villa were dead or alive, he seemed to be 
beyond the reach of the Americans. More than a month 
had elapsed since the attack was made on Columbus, and 
the presence of the Americans in Mexico appeared now 
to the natives to be a menace rather than a friendly mis- 
sion. Therefore, General Carranza requested the Amer- 
ican government to withdraw the troops. 

President Wilson treated this request in a dignified 
manner, and requested General Carranza to arrange for 
a conference in which the two governments might come 
to some understanding as to the best course to pursue 
in order to protect the American border from further 
outrages. General Carranza acquiesced in the request, 
and General Obregon, representing the de facto govern- 
ment of Mexico, and General Hugh L. Scott, representing 
the United States, met in El Paso on May 1, and an 
amicable settlement was prophesied from the beginning. 

In the midst of this conference, however, another group 



RELATIONS WITH GENERAL CARRANZA 251 

of bandits crossed the border and attacked another Amer- 
ican community. All negotiations came to a standstill 
at once, and another expeditionary force crossed the line 
and went off into the sands and cacti in pursuit of the 
outlaws. There seemed to be some force at work in .Mex- 
ico to prevent a peaceful adjustment of the matter. 
Whenever an understanding was about to be reached, an- 
other blow would be struck, and another American expe- 
dition won hi move. Carranza became excited. Old fears 
seemed to seize him. in spite of President Wilson's pains 
to assure him that all this nation desired was to see an 
end to the border outrages. Then old suspicions came to 
the surface. 

Finally, on May 31, a note from Carranza was pre- 
sented to the Secretary of State demanding an immediate 
withdrawal of American troops from Mexico. It inti- 
mated that President Wilson had not been acting in good 
faith. "There has been a great discrepancy," it said. 
"between the protests of sincere friendly cooperation on 
the part of the American authorities and the actual atti- 
tude of the expeditions, which, on account of its distrust, 
its secrecy regarding its movements, and the arms at its 
disposal, clearly indicate that it was a hostile expedition 
and a real invasion of our territory." 

This note was indeed a great surprise to the American 
people and gave at once a new turn to the whole Mex- 
ican problem. It. was said, however, that it was well 
received in .Mexico City. Therefore, many Americans 



252 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

were inclined to believe that it was written "for home 
consumption. ' ' 

The American government made no immediate 
answer to this note. However, it was a warning. But 
the American commander, General Pershing, continued 
to dispose of his troops to the best advantage and Gen- 
eral Obregon continued to cooperate with him. In the 
meantime the American government had taken the pre- 
caution to hold up all arms and munitions en route from 
this country to Carranza's army. 

A second warning came on June 16 which was still 
more threatening. General Trevino, commanding the 
Carranza Army of the North, advised General Pershing, 
American Expeditionary Commander, that any move- 
ment of American troops from their present line to the 
south, east or west would be considered a hostile act and 
a signal to commence warfare. 

General Pershing replied promptly. "1 take orders 
only from my government," he said. "Please make that 
plain to General Carranza." 

Instead of dealing further with the American Govern- 
ment at Washington, General Carranza began to issue, 
through his generals, orders to the American Com- 
manders in Mexico. 

Meanwhile, the American government was considering 
the Carranza note and the action of General Trevino. 
General Carranza, it appeared, had changed his whole 
attitude toward the American nation. What new in- 



RELATION'S WITH GENERAL CARRANZA 253 

flu, 'ii.es surrounded him .' Whal insidious agents were 
a1 work? While those questions were being discussed, 
newspapers published an interview with Carranza on 
June 20, in which he was reported to have said: 

"I have ordered the military leaders of our forces 
near the border no1 to permit the further passing of any 
American forces into .Mexican territory.'' He then in- 
timated that the American troops were not sent into 
Mexico for the bandits alone, but that heavy artillery- 
was brought in for a campaign against Mexico. There- 
fore, he said, the Mexican people did not believe in the 
sincerity of the American government, and they were 
prepared to resist. Later, in addressing his army, he 
spoke of the Spanish and Indian blood that flowed 
through their veins and exhorted them to stand ready 
to defend their country. War seemed inevitable. 

On the next day. June 21, President Wilson's reply 
to Carranza's demand for withdrawal of American 
troops was sent. The note was long and carefully 
worded. The President reviewed the diplomatic rela- 
tions, hut refused to meet all of Carranza's demands. 

Next morning he heard the newsboys in the streets of 
Washington crying "extra." lie sent for a copy of the 
paper and read the account of a clash between 
the Mexicans and Americans. An hour later General 
Funston's official dispatch was received informing him 
that a fighl had taken place on Wednesday morning, 
June 21. at ("arri/al. and a few days later General Car- 



254 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

ranza notified the Secretary of State that the attack on 
American troops was in compliance with his orders. 

Immediately after the news of the Carrizal clash was 
received in Washington, an emergency call was put in 
for the quick mobilization of the National Guard. This 
act was the signal for thousands of citizens to quit their 
peaceful occupations, leave their homes, and go into 
military training. In every state the tramp, tramp of 
the soldier boys stirred the heroic natures of men. 
women, and children who collected along the streets or 
gathered at the railway stations to wave farewell to the 
soldiers ' ' off for Mexico. ' ' It was now generally believed 
that the long-expected and by many hoped-for, war with 
Mexico was at last at hand. 

President Wilson, however, instead of becoming ex- 
cited and rushing headlong into war, began at once to 
seek the cause for this strange turn in affairs. General 
Carranza's whole attitude was a puzzle. It was incon- 
ceivable that he should, of his own initiative, seek war 
with the United States. Was the change due, then, to 
insidious foreign influences ? Were the Mexicans becom- 
ing so excited over the continued presence of the Amer- 
ican army in Mexico that General Carranza was unable 
to hold them in check? Did he really fear that the 
American army was sent into Mexico for the purpose 
of making a war of conquest? Or had the "unscrupulous 
influences" on the border succeeded, at last, in their 



RELATIONS WITH GENERAL CARRANZA 255 

designs, after President Wilson had repeatedly warned 
both countries against them? 

These questions were argued by the press of this 
country, and excited Americans fairly raved — some for 
war, and some against war. But who was really re- 
sponsible for the clash at Carrizal — Americans or 
-Mexicans? 

In the midst of this new confusion, while war-shouts 
were being heard in every village, President Wilson kept. 
his head and proceeded very deliberately to seek the 
motive for this change in affairs. His first act was to 
demand of General Carranza an immediate release of 
the American prisoners captured at Carrizal and a safe 
escort for the border. This demand was complied with, 
lie next asked General Carranza to state at once the 
intentions of the Carranza government toward General 
Pershing's army on Mexican soil. The reply was con- 
vincing to the President that the Carranza government 
certainly did not desire war with the United States. 
Moreover, General Trevino in command of the Carranza 
army in Chihuahua, where the clash occurred, was trans- 
ferred to another province. 

General Carranza 's attitude now was very pleasing to 
the American government. His note was considered the 
"wisest and most restrained communication the Car- 
ranza government has yet delivered to the United States 
government." and it was believed by the Administration 



256 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

that the real points at issue had been "grasped for the 
first time clearly by the Carranza government," which 
declared its willingness to "consider in a quick and prac- 
tical way, prompted by a spirit of concord, the remedies 
which should be applied to the present situation." 

Thus the little clash at Carrizal 'was apparently 
bringing about a better understanding between the two 
nations, and America was again about to triumph as 
Mexico's friend. 

However, there is nothing so disturbing to the peace of 
the country as the sight of moving armies. Americans 
everywhere seemed to rise up and ask to go to war. 
A million soldiers could have been raised easily. The 
impulse to go to war was exceedingly strong. But the 
President was determined not to hit any part of Mexico, 
prostrate from long and bitter internal strife. And 
again he curbed the American passion and held the dogs 
of war in leash and refused to let them go. At the same 
time the State Department was working with General 
Carranza to reach a peaceful solution of the two problems 
that caused the conflict between the two countries : the 
presence of United States troops on Mexican soil and the 
raids on the United States border. 

The President was criticized for not rushing a half 
million men into Mexico and for not closing all Mexican 
ports. However, he still believed that war with Mexico 
could be avoided, and he would not let any force drive 
him into a war of conquest. He knew the people of 



RELATIONS WITH GENERAL CAKRANZA 257 

Mexico wore suspicious of the Americans and even hated 
them. Moreover, he knew that they had some just cause 
to hate Americans and to speak contemptuously of thein 
as "Gringoes." Therefore, he declared again his policy 
toward Mexico. 

He was speaking, July 10, to the "World's Congress 
of Salesmen in session in Detroit. He told his hearers 
who were concerned over the border states "we have to 
defend our border. That goes without saying. Of 
course, we must make good our own sovereignty. But 
we must respect the sovereignty of Mexico." And while 
these words were being uttered, the Secretary of War 
was massing troops on the border. But he assured this 
nation that such an act did not mean war. He declared 
that it was his purpose to help, not harm, Mexico. But 
he said that there were two ways of helping Mexico. 

"I was trying'," he said, "to expound in 
another place the other day the long' way and the 
short way to get together. The long way is to 
fight. I have heard some gentlemen say that they 
want to help Mexico, and the way they purpose 
to help her is to overwhelm her with force. That 
is the long way to help Mexico, as well as the 
wrong way. Because, after the fighting you will 
have a nation full of justified suspicion and 
animated by well-founded hostility and hatred. 



258 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

And then will you help them ! Then will you estab- 
lish cordial business relationship with them"? 
Then will you go on as neighbors and establish 
their confidence? On the contrary, you will have 
shut every door as if it were of steel against you. 
"What makes Mexico suspicious of us is that 
she does not believe as yet that we want to serve 
her. She believes we want to possess her. And 
she has justification for the belief in the way in 
which some of our fellow-citizens have tried to 
exploit her privileges and her possessions. For 
my part I will not serve the ambitions of those 
gentlemen, but I will try to serve all America, so 
far as intercourse with Mexico is concerned, by 
trying to serve Mexico herself. " 



CHAPTER XII 

GOOD FAITH AND JUSTICE TOWARD ALL 

NATIONS 

Washington's Farewell Address to the people of the 
United States is regarded as a great American Classic 
and is taught in the public schools of America and held 
up to the youth as a political ideal. In speaking of our 
foreign relations, he said: "It will be worthy of a free, 
enlightened, and at no distant period a great nation, 
to give to mankind the magnanimous and too novel ex. 
ample of a people always guided by an exalted justice 
and benevolence." It was this ideal that President 
Wilson adopted for his guidance in dealing with foreign 
countries. The practice, however, of certain Senators 
and Members in drawing from the national treasury 
unfair and unjust appropriations for their respective 
states, contemptuously referred to as "pork barrel" leg- 
islation, is about the attitude, as a rule, of one nation to 
the remainder of the world. 

In August. 1912, while the Presidential campaign was 
in a very acute stage. Congress enacted a law providing 
for the future administration of the Panama I 'anal. One 
section in that law gave free passage through the canal 

259 



2G0 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

to the ships of the United States engaged in coastwise 
trade, but provided that all other American ships, as 
well as all ships of foreign countries, passing through 
the canal, should pay a toll. 

This whole question was very freely discussed by the 
people of this country before the passage of this act, 
and both political parties went on record as favoring 
the exemption from tolls of American ships engaged in 
coastwise trade. However, the British government and 
other nations objected to our favored treatment of our 
own shipping, on the ground that it violated the Hay- 
Pauncefote Treaty. It was contended by the Taft ad- 
ministration and Congress that it was never understood 
when the treaty was ratified that Mr. John Hay, our 
ambassador, was signing away our rights to the free use 
of the canal for coastwise trade. Therefore, the law 
was passed over the protest of the British government 
and to the surprise of the nations of Europe. 

When President Wilson was inaugurated, the canal 
was incomplete, but plans were being matured for its 
formal opening. The protests of foreign nations, how- 
ever, against what they considered was an act of injustice 
on the part of the American government, seemed to rob 
this nation of much of the glory for bringing to comple- 
tion such a tremendous undertaking. 

After Mr. Wilson became President, he came to the 
conclusion that the old Clayton-Bulwer Treaty of 1850 
was an agreement between the United States and Great 



FAITH AND JUSTICE TOWARD ALL 261 

Britain that neither country should have exclusive con- 
trol over any iuter-oeean canal in Central America, and 
that the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty, which superseded the 
Clayton-Bulwer Treaty, was a guarantee to Great Brit- 
ain, or its wording was such as to leave the impression on 
the European nations, that the canal would be open to 
both nations and to all nations on the same terms. 

Moreover, it developed after the American coastwise 
vessels were exempt from toll, that out of the hundreds 
of regular trans- Atlantic liners, only six ships were fly- 
ing the American flag, but that the American coastwise 
shipping was a vast fleet. According to the figures quoted 
by an English writer, Mr. Winthrop Marvin, our coast- 
wise fleet was greater than the entire German merchant 
marine and greater than the combined merchant marines 
of France and Italy. It appeared, therefore, that very 
nearly all of the American vessels were exempt from toll 
by the Repeal Act, and Mr. Wilson considered this a 
violation certainly of the spirit, if not the letter, of the 
treaty. 

The Panama Canal was not opened until August 14, 
11)14. In the meantime, President Wilson was giving 
the matter of toll exemption very careful study, and in 
February he wrote to Mr. William L. Marbury, of Balti- 
more, a letter which indicated how his mind was working 
on the problem : 

"With regard to the question of canal tolls my 



262 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

opinion is very clear," lie said. "The exemption 
constitutes a very mistaken policy from every 
point of view. It is economically unsound; as a 
matter of fact, it benefits for the present, at any 
rate, only a monopoly and it seems to me, in clear 
violation of the terms of the Hay-Pauncefote 
Treaty. There is, of course, much honest differ- 
ence of opinion as to the last point as there is, no 
doubt, as to others. But it is at least debatable, 
and if the promises we make in such matters are 
debatable, I, for one, do not care to debate them. 
I think the country would prefer to let no question 
arise as to its whole-hearted purpose to redeem 
its promises in the light of any reasonable con- 
struction of them rather than debate a point of 
honor." 

His program had two distinct purposes in view — 
(1) to destroy monopoly, and (2) to restore the rule of 
right and justice in all foreign relations as well as in 
domestic affairs. As the discussion of this question con- 
tinued, the opinion grew that the exemption clause en- 
couraged monopoly and was a violation of the rule of 
right and justice. 

For the time the country forgot the anti-trust bills in 
Congress and gave all attention to this, the newest sen- 
sation. The old question of how far a party is bound 



FAITH AM) JUSTICE TOWARD ALL 263 

by a plank in the platform was discussed pro and con. 
It was argued, furthermore, that the exemption act was 
indirectly a subsidy, and that the Democratic platform 
was emphatic in its opposition to subsidies, which en- 
couraged monopolies, and since the final step in the 
overthrow of monopoly was about to be taken, the exemp- 
tion clause in the Panama Canal act should be repealed 
even before the anti-trust laws were enacted. Mr. Wil- 
son started the nation to discussing the question. Then 
he withdrew from the argument for a while and waited 
until March 5, when he appeared before Congress, and 
in the following words asked that body to reverse its 
position in the exemption clause of the Panama Canal 
act: 

"Gentlemen of the Congress," lie began, "I 
have come to you upon an errand which can be 
very briefly performed, but I beg that you will 
not measure its importance by the number of 
sentences in which I state it. No communication 
I have addressed to the Congress carried with it 
graver or more far-reaching implications as to the 
interest of the country, and I come now to speak 
upon a matter with regard to which I am charged 
in a peculiar degree, by the Constitution itself, 
with personal responsibility. 

"I have come to ask you for the repeal of that 



264 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

provision of the Panama Canal Act of August 24, 
1912, which exempts vessels engaged in the coast- 
wise trade of the United States from payment of 
tolls, and to urge upon you the justice, the wisdom, 
and the large policy of such a repeal with the ut- 
most earnestness of which I am capable. In my 
own judgment, very fully considered and ma- 
turely formed, that exemption constitutes a mis- 
taken economic policy from every point of view, 
and is, moreover, in plain contravention of the 
treaty with Great Britain concerning the canal 
concluded on November 18, 1901. But I have not 
come to urge upon you my personal views. I have 
come to state to you a fact and a situation. What- 
ever may be our own differences of opinion con- 
cerning this much debated measure, its meaning 
is not debated outside the United States. Every- 
where else the language of the treaty is given but 
one interpretation, and that interpretation pre- 
cludes the exemption I am asking you to repeal. 
We consented to the treaty; its language we ac- 
cepted, if we did not originate it ; and we are too 
big, too powerful, too self-respecting a nation to 
interpret with a too strained or refined reading 
the words of our own promises just because we 
have power enough to give us leave to read them 



FAITH AND JUSTICE TOWARD ALL 2G5 

as we please. The large thing to do is the only 
thing we can afford to do, a voluntary withdrawal 
from a position everywhere questioned and mis- 
understood. "We ought to reverse our action with- 
out raising the question whether we were right 
or wrong, and so once more deserve our reputa- 
tion for generosity and for the redemption of 
every obligation without quibble or hesitation. 

"I ask this of you in support of the foreign 
policy of the administration. I shall not know 
how to deal with other matters of even greater 
delicacy and nearer consequence if you do not 
grant it to me in ungrudging measure." 

This was indeed a remarkable request — remarkable 
I'm- its boldness and for its directness. So brief was the 
address that he had finished almost before his hearers 
were aware that his appeal was fairly begun. However, 
when he bowed to the assembly and left the rostrum, they 
were aware of the fact thai he hail appeared in person 
to ask them to do an unprecedented but very important 
thing; namely, to repudiate a plank in the Democratic 
platform and to reverse themselves on the Exemption 
Act. 

Mr. "Wilson had been President just a year and a day 
when he faced Congress in that calm and confident man- 
ner. There were members of the Senate and of the House 



266 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

who had been in public life more than a generation and 
who had been a part of the national legislative body 
longer than Woodrow Wilson had been a national figure. 
And he was now asking them to reverse a step that had 
been taken deliberately less than two years ago and after 
considerable discussion. 

The address was praised as "straightforward" and 
"effective." However, it was declared by press corre- 
spondents that "it was received more unfavorably than 
any other utterances he has made to the National Legis- 
lature." It was the last sentence of the address which 
attracted the attention of the entire nation. "What 
were those 'other matters of even greater delicacy?' : 
Then critic after critic declared that the President was 
wrong. Some even said that he was under some sinister 
influence or that he was courting friendship with 
England. 

It was sometimes hard for the business men to 
understand Mr. Wilson's rule of right and justice when 
it was to be applied to domestic matters. It was hard 
for those interested in the annexation of Mexico to un- 
derstand it when applied to our relations with Latin- 
American states. But it was considerably harder for 
certain members of the legislative body to understand it 
when applied to international relationship. 

Two of the greatest issues of President Wilson's ad- 
ministration were before Congress at this time— The 
anti-trust laws and the repeal of Panama tolls. It was 



FAITH AND JUSTICE TOWARD ALL 267 

a part of Mr. Wilson's tactics while important measures 
were pending to lay down the fundamental principles 
that should guide America in all of its governmental 
processes, and he usually chose some public occasion in 
which to re-state these principles. On May 16, 191-4, while 
these two measures were pending and while the press of 
the country was keeping the nation informed as to the 
gossip and their progress, Mr. Wilson delivered an ad- 
dress at the unveiling of the statue of Commodore John 
Barry, a Revolutionary patriot, in which he referred to 
Washington's injunction to this country to keep free 
from entangling alliances. 

"We can not form alliances," said Mr. "Wilson, 
* ' with those who are not going our way and in our 
might and majesty and in the certainty of our 
purpose we need not and should not form alli- 
ances with any nation in the world. Those who 
are right, those who study their conscience in de- 
termining their policies, those who hold their 
honor higher than their advantages do not need 
alliances. You need alliances when you are not 
true to yourself. You are weak when you are in 
the wrong. You are weak when you are afraid to 
do the right. You are weak when you doubt your 
course and the majesty of the nation's might 
asserted." 



268 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

And then he exhorted the people of the nation 
to devote themselves "to the purpose of enabling 
America to live her own life, to be the justest, the 
most progressive, the most honorable, the most 
enlightened nation in the world." 

When the bill to repeal was introduced, of course it 
met with opposition, and it was said that this opposition 
was a signal for a "revolt against Mr. Wilson's leader- 
ship. ' ' The nation had been warned many times before 
that "a revolt" was at hand. However, the leaders in 
the Senate and the House kept the organization together, 
although hostile editors declared that the President had 
"driven his party into hopeless dissension" and "the 
Democratic solid front that put through the tariff bill 
and the new banking law is broken and shattered." 

A survey of Congress in May revealed the fact that 
the passage of the Repeal Bill was after all a foregone 
conclusion. A safe majority could be counted on in both 
Houses, and on June 11 the Panama Toll Act was re- 
pealed. The Senators and Members, having the Presi- 
dent's idea before them, frankly admitted they had made 
a mistake and as cheerfully reversed themselves. The 
repeal was looked upon by a host of papers as the great- 
est victory yet achieved by the President and one which 
in itself will insure his place in history. And it was 
declared that "the rule of justice and equality" at last 
applied to our international policies, and that "no pri- 



FAITH AND JUSTICE TOWARD ALL 269 

vate interests," foreign or domestic, may capitalize this 
greal republic enterprise (the Panama Canal) for its 
own special profit." 

However, the act of Congress was so unprecedented 
that criticism continued, until Mr. Wilson, a few days 
afterward, spoke these words: 

"It is patriotic sometimes to regard the honor 
of this country in preference to its material inter- 
ests. Would you rather be despised by all the 
nations of the world as incapable of keeping your 
treaty obligations or would you rather have free 
tolls for American ships? 

"The treaty has been made a mistake, but its 
meaning is unmistakable. But when I have made 
a promise I try to keep it. The most honorable 
and distinguished nation in the world is the nation 
that can keep its promises to its own hurt. 

"I want to say, parenthetically, that I do not 
think anybody was hurt. I am not enthusiastic 
for subsidies to a monopoly and nobody can get 
me enthusiastic on that subject. But, assuming 
that it was a matter of enthusiasm, I am much 
more enthusiastic for keeping the integrity of the 
United States absolutely unquestioned and un- 
sullied." 



270 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

The President put his house in order none too soon. 
He had labored with success to destroy private monopoly 
at home and set up again the rule of right and justice 
in the nation. He had convinced the South American 
nations that the same rule would apply to all his dealings 
with the republics of this hemisphere. Finally, he had 
proved to the world that this, the greatest republic on 
earth, could give to mankind "the magnanimous and 
too novel experience" of a people guided "by an exalted 
justice and benevolence." 

With these achievements the Old Era came to a close. 
The European war drew a heavy veil between the past 
and the future as the New Era appeared, and President 
Wilson faced the future with a power and a prestige 
that made him one of the commanding personalities of 
the world. 



PART II 

CHAPTER XIII 

THE EUROPEAN WAR AND A NEW ERA 

On July 4, 1914, President Wilson laid aside executive 
duties and on this, the nation's birthday, he stood in 
Independence Hall to interpret the spirit of America. 
In concluding his address, he said : 

"To what other nation in the world can all 
eyes look for an instant sympathy that thrills 
the whole body politic when men anywhere arc 
fighting for their rights! I do not know thai 
there will ever be a declaration of independence 
and of grievances for mankind, but I believe thai 
if any such document is ever drawn it will be 
drawn in the spirit of the American Declaration 
of Independence, and that America has lifted 
high the light which will shine unto all genera- 
tions and guide the feet of mankind to the goal 
of justice and liberty and peace." 

At that time the world, save Mexico, was at peace. 
Men everywhere were admitting that the causes of war 

271 



272 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

had declined, and many men of international fame were 
declaring that there would never be another great war. 
The President, therefore, had no thought of war when 
these words were uttered. He was only too conscious 
of the great struggle for human rights that had been 
carried on in this nation for sixteen months, when he 
labored earnestly to complete the program of "New 
Freedom" and restore the rule of right and justice in 
this nation. 

Moreover, his foreign policy was being conducted with 
the single aim of convincing all nations that America's 
flag "is the flag not only of America but of humanity." 
The Panama Tolls Act had just been repealed, and the 
nations of the world were applauding the act. The A. B. 
C. Mediators were just closing their conference at 
Niagara Falls and the Latin- American states were rejoic- 
ing over the magnanimous conduct of the United States. 
The American army was still at Vera Cruz, but the Presi- 
dent of the United States was waiting only for Huerta 
to resign the presidency of Mexico and for the restora- 
tion of constitutional government in that war distressed 
country. 

At no time in the history of this country had this nation 
stood so well among the nations of the earth as on this 
birthday and never had it lifted so high ' ' the light which 
will shine unto all generations and guide the feet of 
mankind to the goal of justice and liberty and peace. ' ' 

Then suddenly, July 28, 1914, Austria declared war 



THE EUROPEAN WAS 273 

on Servia and the great European war broke upon the 
world. Within less than thirty days after the celebration 
referred to above everything was changed. Almost in the 
twinkling of an eye, nations were transformed, old stan- 
dards of right and wrong were swept away, governmental 
policies became obsolete, and a new era had begun. 

The shock of war was so great and the human mind 
was wrenched so violently away from the past thai the 
first eighteen months of President Wilson's administra- 
tion seem more like Ancient History than the proceedings 
of three years ago. Who remembers now the summer of 
1913 when he routed the lobbyists and was hailed the 
leader of the Democratic Party? Who recalls the terror 
that struck the business men when the currency laws were 
debated and captains of finance were summoned to Wash- 
ington to give assistance to long needed reforms 1 / Who 
is mindful of the panicky condition of the country 
eighteen months ago when it was announced that the long 
struggle between government and monopoly had at last 
begun? It all reads like chapters recovered from a for- 
gotten past. And yet the legislation of that period was 
the most far-reaching of any since the days of Andrew 
Jackson. 

But what did a great war, three thousand miles away, 
have to do with America? How did it make statesmen 
forget old issues? How did it turn political currents 
into new channels and make new issues that were un- 
thought of before the war .' 



274 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

In the first place a vast commerce of some $2,000,- 
000,000 a year was suddenly either demolished or dis- 
located. The day after England declared war on 
Germany traffic between America and Europe was para- 
lyzed. Merchantmen were impressed into military serv- 
ice ; freight and passenger vessels were afraid to leave 
the ports ; and millions of tons of merchandise were being 
piled up in American ports with no foreign market in 
sight. The Southern States were prostrated by the slump 
in the cotton market. The stock exchanges closed their 
doors. Trade depression threw an army of working men 
out of employment, and the falling off in the fiscal 
revenue was so great that the Government was driven 
temporarily to impose a number of direct taxes on the 
people. Thus the economic safety of this nation was 
threatened. 

Moreover, nearly thirty million American citizens 
claimed close kinship with the belligerents on the other 
side of the continent and the conflict had for them some- 
thing of the character of "a civil war by proxy." Per- 
haps in no other country were the right and wrong of the 
war more passionately debated. As the great battles 
raged in Europe, millions of American citizens seemed 
to forget everything save their blood relatives in the 
trenches. The meager news from Europe told them that 
the old homesteads back in the lands of their fathers, the 
accumulated earnings, the heirlooms and even the tombs 
of their ancestors were being sacrificed to the god of 



THE EUKOPEAN \V.\I! 27f> 

war. Gray-haired fathers and mothers of American 
citizens were driven from their homes like so many cattle, 
jiiid even from the land of their birth. Great industries 
were swept off the map, and brothers and sisters became 
wanderers without food or shelter. Then from the 
trenches came heart-rending stories of carnage in which 
so many kinsmen were slaughtered that the god of 
war had rivers of blood in which to slake the world's 
militaristic thirst for gore. And three thousand miles 
from these dreadful battlefields — here among a free 
people — thirty million kinsmen looked daily into the eyes 
of men and women whose blood relatives in Europe were 
slaughtering their relatives, and preserving neutrality in 
America became the most important problem of the hour. 
The United States was the only great neutral nation 
left to help bring order out of chaos and the responsibility 
of this unique position was emphasized strongly at the 
beginning of the war. This nation occupied "a sort of 
provisional judgment seat" and the warring nations 
appealed to it for sympathy and moral support and 
waited eagerly for verdicts of guilt or acquittal. There 
was almost a scramble among the combatants to win 
America's approval or good-will. Behind this competi- 
tion to gain the ear of the United States there was, says 
a contemporary writer, a two-fold purpose: "First, that 
decent respect for contemporary opinion which is making 
it more and more impossible for any nation to go to war 
without at least an attempt to show that its cause is 



276 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

just; and second, a consciousness that, while American 
neutrality was accepted in all lands as a static factor, 
American resources and benevolence and diplomacy 
might have no small influence in the course of the war 
and the views of peace. ' ' 

Therefore, America was called upon to maintain a just 
neutrality at any cost save that of honor in order to hold 
the mad half of the world to some ethical standard and to 
compose the differences between the warring nations 
when the accumulated fighting strength of the world had 
spent its energies. 

These extraordinary conditions were giving birth to 
new issues more perplexing than any that had confronted 
the nation since the Revolutionary "War. How to main- 
tain neutrality, how to hold the world to some standard, 
how to mobilize our national resources, how to keep the 
lines of trade open, how to maintain honor and convince 
the American people that national honor has been main- 
tained, these are the new issues that arose immediately. 

In order, therefore, to approach these new problems 
with courage and intelligence, President Wilson with 
a calmness that was steadying to the nation reminded the 
American people that the supreme duty of the hour was 
to place America first in their thoughts. And ' ' America 
First" became the watchword of the administration and 
served to anchor the American spirit and keep men sane. 



CHAPTER XIV 

AMERICA FIRST 

The shock was so sudden that no one had attempted 
to think through the possibilities of such a conflict. 
Bui now that it had burst upon the world, men every- 
where were half dazed when the catastrophe that had 
been declared impossible was indeed a reality. In this 
great crisis all eyes were turned to the chief executive 
of the nation. What would he do — what could he do — 
to give America the right direction ? 

The nations of Europe had decided what they would 
do; and their decision gave America a demoralization of 
business, with stock exchanges closed, railroads helpless, 
markets congested, factories shut down and labor unem- 
ployed. It gave "civil war by proxy," — citizens arrayed 
against citizens, mobs in the streets, and a panicky con- 
dition that affected men's reason. Moreover, it turned 
the current of government from old accustomed chan- 
nels into strange and untried areas. In the midst of this 
sudden confusion, even before America could think, every 
nation of Europe turned quickly to this country for help 
and sympathy and consolation, and added to the con- 

277 



278 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

fusion by attempting to place its interest first in the 
hearts of American citizens. What, then, was the first 
duty of Americans? 

It is very apparent now that the supreme duty of the 
hour was for America to find herself first. And while 
the passions of men were stirred by the events on 
the other side of the globe and their hearts were filled 
with despair over the demoralization at home, President 
Wilson exhibited sagacity, resolution, and patience which 
has rarely been equaled. His first act was to remind the 
people of this nation that their first thoughts should be 
for America, and "America First" became a shibboleth 
with which to unify the patriotism of this nation. 

On the day before England declared war against Ger- 
many he called the newspaper correspondents together 
and urged them to be careful and "not to give currency 
to any unverified news, to anything that would tend to 
create or add to the excitement. ' ' And then he added, ' ' I 
think you will agree that we must all at the present 
moment act together as Americans in seeing that America 
does not suffer any unnecessary distress from what is 
going on in the world at large. ' ' 

This appeal was coupled with an assurance that the 
financial situation throughout the country was sound, 
that bankers and business men were already thinking of 
America first and were cooperating "with the govern- 
ment with a zeal, intelligence, and spirit which make the 
outcome secure." He appealed to the American people 



AMERICA FIRST 279 

to aid the Administration in preserving the soundness of 
this nation, for this country, he said, "owes it to man- 
kind to remain in such a position and in such a state of 
mind thai she can help the rest of the world." 

In this appeal to the American people he pointed out 
the direction that this nation must take — Act together as 
Americans, not as foreigners, so that America shall not 
suffer. Then she will be in a state of mind to help the 
rest of the world. 

At the outbreak of the war President "Wilson offered to 
ad in the interest of European peace, either then or at 
any other suitable time. This was a formal act in ac- 
cordance with a provision of the Hague Convention of 
1907, which states that it is expedient and desirable that 
"strangers" to the dispute should on their own initiative 
and as far as circumstances may allow offer their good 
offices or mediation to the states at variance. But the 
old world was mad, mediation was then impossible, and 
the President had but one course before him — to protect 
America by keeping it neutral. 

It is no wonder, therefore, that in this terrible ordeal 
he exalted the interest of America above all sympathies 
for the warring nations and proclaimed that this nation 
should, if possible, be neutral. The very safety of busi- 
ness, the solidarity of our citizenship, and the power to 
aid the warring nations in bringing this dreadful war to 
a close depended upon this nation's remaining neutral. 
Therefore he issued a solemn appeal to the American 



280 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

people — reminding them again of the dangers that might 
arise from partisan strife. He said: 

"My Fellow Countrymen: 

"I suppose that every thoughtful man in 
America has asked himself, during these last 
troubled weeks, what influence the European war 
may exert upon the United States, and I take 
the liberty of addressing a few words to you in 
order to point out that it is entirely within our 
own choice what its effects upon us will be and 
to urge very earnestly upon you the sort of 
speech and conduct which will best safeguard 
the nation against distress and danger. 

' ' The effect of the war upon the United States 
will depend upon what American citizens say 
and do. Every man who really loves America 
will act and speak in the true spirit of neutrality, 
which is the spirit of impartiality and fairness 
and friendliness to all concerned. The spirit of 
the nation in this critical matter will be deter- 
mined largely by what individuals and society 
and those gathered in public meetings do and 
say, upon what newspapers and magazines con- 
tain, upon what ministers utter in their pulpits, 



AMERICA FIRST 281 

and men proclaim as their opinions on the street. 

4 'The people of the United States are drawn 
from many nations, and chiefly from the nations 
now at war. It is natural and inevitable that 
there should be the utmost variety of sympathy 
and desire among' them with regard to the issues 
and circumstances of the conflict. Some will wish 
one nation, others another, to succeed in the 
momentous struggle. It will be easy to excite 
passion and difficult to allay it. Those responsible 
for exciting it will assume a heavy responsibility, 
responsibility for no less a thing than that the 
people of the United States, whose love of their 
country and whose loyalty to their government 
should unite them as Americans all, bound in 
honor and affection to think first of her and her 
interests, may be divided in camps of hostile 
opinion, hot against each other, involved in the 
war itself in impulse and opinion if not in 
action. 

"Such divisions among us would be fatal to our 
peace of mind and might seriously stand in the 
way of the proper performance of our duty as 
the one great nation at peace, the one people 
holding itself ready to play a part of impartial 



282 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

mediation and speak the counsels of peace and 
accommodation, not as a partisan, but as a 
friend. 

"I venture, therefore, my fellow countrymen, 
to speak a solemn word of warning to you 
against that deepest, most subtle, most essential 
breach of neutrality which may spring out of 
partisanship, out of passionately taking sides. 
The United States must be neutral in fact as well 
as in name during these days that are to try 
men's souls. We must be impartial in thought 
as well as in action, must put a curb upon our 
sentiments as well as upon every transaction 
that might be construed as a preference of one 
party of the struggle before another. 

"My thought is of America. I am speaking, I 
feel sure, the earnest wish and purpose of every 
thoughtful American that this great country of 
ours, which is, of course, the first in our thoughts 
and in our hearts, should show herself in this 
time of peculiar trial a nation fit beyond others 
to exhibit the fine poise of undisturbed judgment, 
the dignity of self-control, the efficiency of dis- 
passionate action; a nation that neither sits in 
judgment upon others nor is disturbed in her 
own counsels, and that keeps herself fit and free 



AMERICA FIRST 283 

to do what is honest and disinterested and truly 
serviceable for the peace of the world. 

"Shall we not resolve to put upon ourselves 
the restraints which will bring to our people 
the happiness and the great and lasting influence 
for peace we covet for them?" 

There were many obstacles, however, in the way of 
preserving neutrality. 

The composite character of the people of the United 
States was sufficient warrant for his determination to 
maintain neutrality. But since no great nation can live 
to itself if it would, its neutrality is not determined solely 
by its own choice in the matter. And such a pressure 
was brought to bear on this nation from the combatants 
in Europe that maintaining neutrality was the hardest 
task that has confronted any president since the war of 
1812. 

Nor was Mr. Wilson free of other perplexities when 
tli is great burden was laid upon his shoulders. The 
Anti-trust Bills were still before the Senate, the new 
banking laws were not fully in operation and the Mexican 
problem was still in an acute state. All these unsettled 
issues made the task of preserving neutrality even more 
difficult. 

The first obstacle to neutrality, therefore, was the 
appeal to this nation to throw its sympathies with one 



284 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

or the other of the warring forces. It reached its climax 
when America was called upon to sit in judgment on the 
act of Germany in declaring war against Belgium in vio- 
lation of a written agreement among the European 
powers to preserve the neutrality of that nation. The 
United States was not a party to that agreement, but the 
Allies, including Belgium, sent representatives to this 
country to convince this nation that, in the interest of 
humanity, it was the duty of the American government, 
the greatest of neutral nations, to act vigorously in the 
matter since another neutral nation had been outraged. 
Germany sent representatives also to justify her act and 
to appeal to the judgment seat of the American people 
for vindication. More than thirty million people lined 
up on the issue, and neutrality of feeling was impossible. 
President Wilson, however, held steadfastly to his set- 
tled conviction that this nation must remain neutral. 
In the midst of charges and counter charges, denials 
and defenses, he held that the truth or falsity of conflict- 
ing evidence must be measured by the standard of inter- 
national law and justice. 

"The guilty will then inevitably incur the 
odium of the civilized world and those falsely 
charged will be vindicated. It is this future 
judgment of enlightened nations which today 
must restrain the warring powers from inhuman 
practices, rather than condemnation by neutral 



AMKKU'A FIRST 285 

powers for charges made in the heat of conflict 
and based upon incomplete knowledge of all the 
circumstances. The interest of humanity, there- 
fore, could be best served by America's remain- 
ing neutral." 

It was urged again that America should protest because 
of the violation of the miles of war which were laid down 
in the Hague Conventions and because of the disregard 
of the rules of humane warfare recognized by interna- 
tional usage and treaty stipulations. So urgent were the 
demands from the belligerents that American citizens 
took sides on the question and the "civil war by proxy" 
was a menace even to the stability of this nation. 

President "Wilson, however, remained firm. His own 
convictions as to the right policy to pursue were in com- 
plete accord with the historic foreign policy of this 
nation, followed in the main by every president from 
Washington to Roosevelt. In 1907 the delegates to the 
Hague Conference appointed by President Roosevelt 
recorded anew the policy of this nation in international 
disputes, and the American policy respecting European 
politics outlined by the delegates at that Conference and 
ratified by the American government is stated in part as 
follows: 

"Nothing contained in this convention shall be so con- 
strued as to require the United States of America to 
depart from its traditional policy of not intruding upon, 



286 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

interfering with, or entangling itself in the political ques- 
tions of policy or internal administration of any foreign 
state." 

The purpose of this clause was to safeguard the Monroe 
Doctrine, a history of which appears in a previous chap- 
ter. And owing to this clause, which was ratified by the 
American government during President Roosevelt's 
administration, the United States was virtually debarred 
from forming an alliance with the other neutral powers 
to enforce obedience to treaties to which the United States 
was not a party. 

Few thoughtful Americans acted at the time as if this 
nation should interfere with the acts of combatants in the 
European war, although Germany had declared war on 
Belgium. This latter nation wished to remain neutral 
but circumstances made it impossible for it to remain 
so, and, at the time when European agents were at work 
in this country, Belgium was no longer neutral but one 
of the most heroic belligerents of the war. However, two 
years after the invasion Mr. Wilson's opponents look 
back with something akin to despair because of the con- 
tinued struggle and blame him for permitting it to last 
so long, and one way, they argue, the President could 
have stopped the war was to have protested when Ger- 
many violated the neutrality of Belgium. 

The nations had been at war only a short time when it 
became only too apparent that international law was not 
as strong as the original instinctive law of self-preserva- 



AMERICA FIRST 287 

tion. Tn Europe the neutrality of small nations was dis- 
regarded. 1'nit America was virtually stopped from 
interfering because of the agreement at the Hague Con- 
vention. However, a great reason for not interfering 
where an obligation was wanting, to say nothing of pre- 
sumption, was the second obstacle to neutrality. The 
rights of neutral nations on the high seas were violated 
ami America was the only powerful nation left to defend 
them. 

This world shocking war was conducted on a plane 
hitherto unknown and when this nation raised its first 
protest against the belligerents for restricting the rights 
of neutrals on the high seas, it was contended in Europe 
that existing modes of warfare made possible by the 
invention of new weapons of offense, such as the sub- 
marine, the automobile, contact mines, the aeroplane, and 
many deadly explosives, not only justified unprecedented 
measures against an enemy but substantially impaired 
the rights of neutral ships to enjoy the freedom of the 
seas. "A nation could not be expected to consent to its 
own dest ruction," was Germany's excuse for violating 
the neutrality of Belgium. "A nation cannot be expected 
to commit suicide," was England's excuse for disregard- 
ing the rights of neutrals on the high seas, and later for 
violating the territorial rights of Greece. 

The great war seemed to abrogate all former interna- 
tional rules concerning trade except such as were of 
distinct advantage to the nation making the interpreta- 



288 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

tion. The interest of each warring nation was judged 
to be too great to be subservient to former international 
law. As the war progressed, however, President Wilson 
very solemnly reminded the belligerents that they must 
not ignore "those bonds of right and principles which 
draw the nations together and hold the community of 
the world to some standard." 

Mr. Wilson foresaw the dangers to neutral trade at the 
beginning of the war, and five days after the outbreak 
our State Department suggested to the Allies and the 
Central Powers that they should ' ' agree that the laws of 
naval warfare, as laid down by the Declaration of London 
of 1909, shall be applicable to naval warfare during the 
present conflict in Europe." 

These laws of naval warfare were formed by a Con- 
ference, called by the Government of Great Britain, 
which met in its capital and they were accepted at the 
time by Great Britain, Germany, the United States and 
other maritime powers. On August 22, 1914, the Im- 
perial German Government replied that it was ready to 
apply the Declaration of London as it was drawn. But 
the Government of Great Britain answered that it was 
willing to abide by the Declaration "subject to certain 
modifications and additions." Great Britain, therefore, 
proposed to change the laws after the war began, that 
had been agreed upon by maritime countries before the 
war. This act nullified the existing laws of nations con- 
cerning maritime warfare. And the great war was being 



AMERICA FIRST 289 

conducted without any rule to guide either neutrals or 

belligerents. 

Germany and England began simultaneously to sow 
contact mines as a means of defense against warships 
far outside the three-mile limit. This, of course, was jus- 
tified on the grounds that the modern guns had a much 
longer range than three miles, and this violation of an 
old international rule was justified by both belligerents 
on the grounds of self-preservation. Owing to the danger 
exposed, on account of these mines, the military areas 
were made to exceed anything heretofore included in 
international agreements. The British Admiralty an- 
nounced (November 2, 1914) that the "whole of the 
North Sea must be considered a military area" and mer- 
chant ships were warned of danger from mines and 
warships. 

Moreover, England refused to accept the list of contra- 
band articles as set forth in the Declaration of London in 
1909, consisting of eleven groups of articles. But by the 
Order in Council issued October 29, 1914, the list was 
more than doubled. A large number of articles which 
never had been considered in the light of contraband was 
added to the list. Great Britain's answer to the heated 
protests from exporters and importers of neutral nations 
was that military necessities have changed with the 
advance in industry. 

It was to be expected that trade between the United 
States and Germany would close with the declaration of 



290 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

hostilities. Moreover, it was a foregone conclusion that 
England as mistress of the seas would place restrictions 
upon commerce with neutral Europe, and that the United 
States, the only high power neutral, would be called upon 
to play an important role in protecting the rights of 
neutrals on the high seas. 

At the outbreak of the war, England did not declare 
& formal blockade of German ports, and the cause is 
obvious. The British fleet was unable to control the 
Baltic Sea. However, under the famous Order in 
Council, October, 1914, a blockade was really begun, and 
a systematic attempt was made to prevent any goods 
whatever from reaching Germany from the outside world, 
and equally to prevent any German goods from going to 
the outside world. It was impossible for Great Britain 
to prohibit commerce between Holland and Germany, 
between the Scandinavian countries and Germany, or 
between Italy and Austria. Therefore, in order to cut 
off trade that might land at one of the neutral ports and 
thence proceed to Germany, Great Britain under the 
larger interpretation of international law claimed the 
right to prevent all commerce with Germany through neu- 
tral ports. The principle of "continuous voyage" and of 
"ultimate destination" was applied. But if accepted by 
the nations, it rendered the cargo, the ultimate destina- 
tion of which was unknown, liable to seizure at any point 
on its way. 

International law does not prohibit trade between neu- 



AMERICA FIRST 291 

trals and belligerents. Even the most hard pressed 
country engaged in war does not ask for such a drastic 
law as that. But it is one of the rules of war for one 
belligerent nation to prohibit so far as possible all trade 
between its antagonist and neutral nations. The whole 
right to establish a blockade rests on this principle, but 
how far that right extends is an unsettled question and 
was the cause of many diplomatic notes between the 
United States and Great Britain. 

England's conduct in seizing and searching American 
vessels on the high seas was justified in that she was act- 
ing in accordance with the doctrine of "continuous 
voyage," a doctrine upheld by the United States during 
the Civil War. But it was argued in America that Eng- 
land's policy is an "extension" of that doctrine and is a 
direct contradiction of the interpretation of the doctrine 
made by the United States Supreme Court. The whole 
matter was as puzzling as it could be. Diplomats, experts, 
and international lawyers found it hard to get the matter 
straight in their own minds. It is no wonder, therefore, 
that the American people have not found the way to 
apportion the right and the wrong with unerring judg- 
ment. 

Every vessel from American ports to Europe was 
scrutinized by the English navy very carefully and very 
often American vessels were seized and searched. The 
Administration protested vigorously against the British 
policy of seizing vessels containing American cargoes, 



292 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

declaring "that the United States considers it best to 
speak in terms of frankness, lest silence be construed as 
an acquiescence." 

England's reply was hopeful, since it assured the 
United States that ' ' we shall endeavor to keep our action 
within the limits of this principle — that a belligerent 
in dealing with trade between neutrals should not inter- 
fere unless such interference is necessary to protect the 
belligerent's national safety and that only to the extent 
to which this is necessary — on the understanding that 
it admits our right to interfere when such interference 
is not with bona fide trade between the United States and 
another neutral country, but with trade in contraband 
destined for the enemy's country, and we are ready 
whenever our action may unintentionally exceed this 
principle, to make redress!" 

This seemed to be fair enough. But in the midst of 
these perplexities England made her own interpreta- 
tions ; and, as a result, a large number of American ships 
carrying American cargoes and bound for neutral ports 
were seized by the British under their definition of an 
extended blockade. In some instances these ships were 
finally released; but the cargoes of others were appro- 
priated; and in most instances American shippers were 
harassed by the delay and expense in which they were 
involved. Perhaps the most exasperating phase of Great 
Britain's conduct was in the seizure and search of mail 
matter. 



AMERICA 1 I KM 293 

The conduct of Great Britain, and the unsatisfactory 
outcome of this correspondence, was exasperating to 
many American citizens, who wished to see American 
commerce unhampered and this country to establish 
her own principle in lieu of that of either belligerent 
nation. Being exasperated almost to the fighting point 
certain members of Congress wished to see America 
declare an embargo on all ships destined for English 
ports in order to punish England for her seizure of 
American vessels. 

In the midst of this bitter controversy, Germany 
startled this nation, as well as all neutral nations, by 
declaring a war zone around the British Isles. This was 
Germany's answer to England's attempted blockade 
and the extension of the list of contraband articles. The 
following war zone decree was issued on February 4. 
1915: 

"The waters around Great Britain and Ireland, in- 
cluding the whole English Channel, are declared a war 
/one from and after February 18, 1915," and "every 
enemy's merchant vessel found in this war zone will be 
destroyed, even if it is impossible to avert dangers which 
threaten the crew and passengers." It declared, further- 
more, that "neutral ships in the war zone are in danger 
as in consequence of the misuse of neutral fla^s ordered 
by the British Government on January '■>] . and in view 
of the hazards of naval warfare, it cannot always be 
avoided that attacks meant for enemies' ships endanger 



294 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

neutral ships." The danger zone was further laid off 
as follows : ' ' Shipping northward, around the Shetland 
Islands, in the eastern basin of the North Sea, and in 
a strip of at least thirty nautical miles in breadth along 
the Dutch Coast, is endangered in the same way." 

England had virtually closed the North Sea to neutral 
vessels. Now Germany was declaring her purpose to 
close the waters around the British Isles to neutral 
vessels. Thus, the two nations proposed in their des- 
perate attempts to throttle each other, to close all the 
leading trade routes to European ports, regardless of 
whether the countries were at war or not. England 
reserved the right to capture neutral vessels. But Ger- 
many went a step further, and proposed to destroy such 
vessels without safeguarding the passengers that might 
be on board. 

Germany's action was vastly more significant to the 
United States than England's because it applied to the 
waters surrounding the British Isles, those most fre- 
quented by American vessels. When the German decree 
reached this country it was declared to be "extraor- 
dinary and unprecedented." And millions of anti- 
German partisans sent up a noise that still vibrates. 

If the English captured American vessels, the value 
of the loss to American ship owners might be com- 
puted and returned, and no lives would be endangered. 
But if Germany sank American vessels, American lives 
might be lost for which no adequate compensation 



AMERICA FIRST 295 

could be made. Therefore, the German declaration 
was distinctly more threatening than the English 
and the United States at once protested vigorously. 
The first note on the submarine question was carefully 
prepared by Mr. Wilson and his cabinet and sent by 
Mr. Bryan, Secretary of State. The illegality of the 
submarine warfare was discussed and Germany was 
finally warned that if the commanders of German ves- 
sels of war "should destroy on the high seas an American 
vessel or the lives of American citizens, the United States 
would be constrained to hold the Imperial Government 
of Germany to a strict accountability for such acts of 
their naval authorities." 

Germany would readily agree with the United States 
that to destroy "on the high seas" an American vessel 
would be a casus belli. But Germany did not admit 
that the war zone laid off by that Government was "on 
the high seas" any more than England's war zone 
was "on the high seas." Therefore, in reply to the 
American note Germany answered that neutral vessels 
which "entered these closed waters, will themselves bear 
the responsibility for any unfortunate accidents that 
may occur." 

What could this government do under these ciren in- 
stances? Fight both Germany and England? 

It was quite evident, according to all rules of inter- 
national law heretofore observed, that both the allies 
and the central powers were violating the rights of 



296 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

neutrals. This government protested strongly, and the 
replies from both Germany and England were concilia- 
tory. Both agreed to make indemnities for American 
losses. But, it was pointed out, this was an unusual war. 
The aggregate fighting powers of mankind, the machin- 
ery of war, and the skill in using it had grown immensely, 
and the existing modes of warfare made possible by 
the new weapons of offense created new issues not 
specified in the old rules of international law. There- 
fore, in the absence of precedent each nation made its 
own rule, and the neutral countries were warned. 
Neutral nations had one of two courses to pursue: to 
keep its vessels and citizens out of this war zone and 
out of European trade, or protest and, perhaps, go to 
war. The American people were so stirred by the 
extraordinary conditions that a host of citizens acted 
as though they wanted this country to protest and, if 
necessary, go to war. But they were unable to reach 
a decision as to which side we should battle with. In 
the meantime this government sought to reach some 
understanding between the mad belligerents, while Eng- 
land was trying to make effective her blockade, and 
Germany was inaugurating her submarine warfare. 

This nation did not have to wait long for results. 
In accordance with the published decree, the German 
submarine warfare began on time, and on February 20 
an American cotton ship, the Evelyn, was sunk in the 
North Sea. Three davs later another cotton carrier, the 



AMERICA FIRST 297 

Carib, was sunk, and at the end of the first week, even 
before any protest from this nation could be considered. 
the German submarine warfare was playing havoc with 
English shipping, and neutral vessels within the war 
zone suffered heavily. 

This submarine warfare threatened so much disaster 
thai the allies retaliated, and on .March 1, France and 
Great Britain ordered an extended blockade. The pur- 
pose was to "prevent commodities of any kind from 
reaching German ports," whether they were directed to 
German ports, or were suspected or being bound for 
Germany although directed to neutral ports! This, if 
accepted by the United States, gave England the right 
to seize and search any vessel bound for any European 
port. And this act was also considered in America as 
"unprecedented and extraordinary." 

The Austro-German-Americans and their sympathizers 
were hardly through expressing their indignation against 
England's policy and particularly against the President 
for not interfering vigorously, when the news arrived 
that a German submarine had sunk the British pas- 
senger steamer Falaba, destroying more than a hundred 
unoffending lives and among them one American citizen. 
This was the occasion for English and Canadian Amer- 
icans and their sympathizers to exhibit countenances of 
horror and hurl maledictions against everything German. 
Such outcries were now occurring daily in the United 
States, not in Europe, and as the stories of insults and 



298 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

injuries and rights violated were trailed through the par- 
tisan press, the divided sympathies in America reached 
such a state of excitement and antagonism that the larger 
interests of the American nation were obscured. 

President Wilson warned the people against these 
agitators who were trying hard "to rock the boat." And 
later, on April 20, in an address to the Associated Press 
of New York, he took the occasion at a most critical 
time to remind the people of the United States once 
more that our whole duty for the present is to place 
"America First" and to think of her position in the 
world. So many people were thinking of Europe and 
the war that there was danger of America's safety fol- 
lowing the thought of the people and falling into the 
hands of the belligerents. 

"I want to talk to you as to my fellow citizens 
of the United States," lie said. ''For there are 
serious things, which as fellow^ citizens we ought 
to consider. The times behind us, gentlemen, 
have been difficult, because whatever may be said 
about the present condition of the world 's affairs, 
it is clear that they are drawing rapidly to a 
climax, and at the climax the test will come, not 
only of the nations engaged in the present colossal 
struggle — it will come for them, of course — but 
the test will come to us particularly." 



a.mi:i;k a first 299 

He then emphasized more forcibly than ever before 
the important position that this nation holds in the 
world today. The American people were. living from 
moment to moment. They were enraged first at the 
conduct of England in seizing our vessels, and then at 
the acts of Germany in sinking our merchant men. The 
President, however, was looking forward to a time when 
this nation, because of its neutral position, would be 
called upon to help bring order out of chaos, and thus 
lead the world back to paths of peace and honor. 

"We shall some day have to assist in recon- 
structing the processes of peace," he continued. 
"Our resources are untouched. We are more 
and more becoming, by the force of circumstances, 
the mediating nation of the world in respect of 
its finances. We must make up our minds what 
are the best things to do and what are the best 
ways to do thorn. We must put our money, our 
energy, our enthusiasm, our sympathy into these 
things, and we must have our judgments pre- 
pared and our spirits chastened against the com- 
ing of that day. So that I am not speaking in a 
selfish spirit when I say that our whole duty 
for the present, at any rate, is summed up in this 
motto, 'America first.' Let us think of America 
before we think of Europe, in order that America 



300 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

may be fit to be Europe's friend when the day 
of tested friendship comes. The test of friend- 
ship is not now sympathy with the one side or 
the other, but getting ready to help both sides 
when the struggle is over." 

Since the beginning of the war, this had been the 
President's theme, that America should be ready "to 
help both sides when the struggle is over." The bel- 
ligerent nations seemed to realize from the first that 
if America remained neutral she would have a com- 
manding position when the war closed. But the Amer- 
ican people apparently did not realize it at all, judging 
from the clamor in this country against the combat- 
ants. And the President seemed to be determined to 
make them see, if possible, the supreme advantage to 
themselves and to the world in remaining neutral, not- 
withstanding the fact that American commerce was 
suffering on the other side of the globe. 

"The basis of neutrality," he spoke with re- 
newed emphasis, "is not independence; it is not 
self-interest. The basis of neutrality is sym- 
pathy for mankind. It is fairness ; it is good will 
at bottom. It is impartiality of spirit and judg- 
ment. I wish that all of our fellow citizens could 
realize that. There is in some quarters a dis- 



AM Kill! A FIRST 301 

position to create distempers in the body politic 
I\lt'ii are even uttering slanders against the 
United States, as if to excite her. Men are saying 
that it' we should go to war upon either side, 
there will be a divided America — an abominable 
libel of ignorance! America is not all of it vocal 
just now. It is vocal in spots. But I, for one, 
have a complete and abiding faith in that great 
silent body of Americans who are not standing 
up and shouting and expressing their opinions 
just now, but are waiting to find out and sup- 
port the duty of America. I am just as sure of 
their solidity and of their loyalty and of their 
unanimity as I am that the history of this coun- 
try has at every crisis and turning point illus- 
trated this great lesson." 

.Mi\ Wilson then undertook to explain to the Amer- 
ican people why it is that this nation is a mediating 
nation. With their minds always centered on outrages 
against this nation, the vocal part of the American 
people seemed to understand least of all the President's 
viewpoint, and again he was emphatic. 

"We are the mediating nation of the world," 
he said. "I do not mean that we should under- 
take not to mind our own business and to mediate 



302 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

where other people are quarreling. I mean the 
word in a broader sense. We are compounded 
of the nations of the world. We mediate their 
blood, we mediate their traditions, we mediate 
their sentiments, their tastes, their passions; we 
are ourselves compounded of those things. We 
are, therefore, able to understand all nations; we 
are able to understand them in the compound, 
not separately as partisans, but unitedly, as 
knowing and comprehending and embodying 
them all. It is in that sense that I mean that 
America is a mediating nation. The opinion of 
America, the action of America, is ready to turn 
and free to turn in any direction. 

"Did you ever reflect upon how almost all 
other nations, almost every other nation, has, 
through long centuries, been headed in one direc- 
tion? That is not true of the United States. 
The United States has no racial momentum. It 
has no history back of it which makes it run all 
its energies and all its ambitions in one particular 
direction; and America is particularly free in 
this, that she has no hampering ambitions as a 
world power. If we have been obliged by cir- 
cumstances, or have considered ourselves to be 
obliged by circumstances, in the past to take ter- 



AMERICA FIRST 303 

ritory which we otherwise would not have thought 
of taking, I believe that I ;mi right in saying that 
we have considered it our duty to administer 
that territory, not for ourselves, but for the 
people living in it, and to put this burden upon 
our consciences, not to think that this thing is 
ours for our use, but to regard ourselves as 
trustees of the great business for those to whom 
it really does belong, trustees ready to hand it 
over to the cestui que trust at any time, when 
th<> business seems to make that possible and 
feasible." 

Realizing that the nation, or a large part of it, was in 
a fighting mood he insisted that his "interest in the 
neutrality of the United States is not the petty desire 
to keep out of trouble," but that if any man or any 
nation "wants a scrap, an interesting scrap that is 
worth while, I'm his man." This appealed to the 
heroic in the nation and the people applauded. Those 
were days that tried men's souls and the President was 
holding off the militaristic party with one hand and at. 
the same time pointing to something more glorious than 
war. 

"I am interested in neutrality," he said, "be- 
cause there is something so much greater to do 



304 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

than fight; because tliere is something, there is a 
distinction waiting for this nation that no nation 
has ever yet got." 

And that distinction was to come from self-control 
and self-mastering. In concluding this address he 
warned the newspaper men against sending out sensa- 
tional dispatches hastily and without sufficient regard 
for the truth. He intimated that some of them had 
already been too careless, and he pointed out the dangers 
that might arise at this period of unstable equilibrium 
by a conscienceless disregard of the truth or a morbid 
curiosity for the sensational. 

"If I permitted myself to be a partisan in this 
present struggle, " lie concluded, "I would be 
unworthy to represent you. If I permitted my- 
self to forget the people who are not partisans, 
I would be unworthy to represent you. I am 
not saying that I am worthy to represent you, 
but I do claim this degree of worthiness that, 
before everything else, I love America." 

The American people paused to read this address and 
to discuss it. It had the effect of drawing out the 
heretofore non vocal part of the American people, and 
while the two great partisan factions were saying wild 
and extravagant things about England or Germany and 



AMERICA FIRST 305 

prophesying thai this country would be plunged into 
war, this great silent but serious element of the nation 
responded to the President's temper and showed unmis- 
takably that he was not alone in following an exalted 
ideal. 

The country was gradually adjusting itself to the 
new conditions made accessary on account of the war. 
Business had come back with a sharp rebound. The 
unemployed were finding new opportunities to labor. 
Factories became alive night and day. Trade began to 
follow many of the old accustomed routes and American 
commerce began to seek new fields. From every section 
of the country the President received assurance that 
this country was sound and the people in the main 
were thinking of "America First," some from selfish 
motives, others from a high moral standpoint. But 
apparently the great majority had at last caught the 
direction that the President pointed out in the beginning, 
and they were at last holding America first not only 
in their affections but in their thoughts. 

However, this rebound of business and this returning 
buoyancy of life came none too soon. The spring of 
1915 opened with ominous clouds far above the horizon. 
England, the mistress of the seas, was making it less 
and less possible fur trading vessels of neutral nations 
to enter European ports. Germany, finding in these 
acts an excuse to retaliate, began a submarine warfare 
that threatened every crew, passenger, cargo, and vessel 



306 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

that entered the waters adjacent to Europe, and America 
passed from the period of proclaimed neutrality to that 
of defending that neutrality, and holding the nations 
of Europe to some ethical standard. 

In the attempt, therefore, to keep America first in the 
minds of the citizens of this nation and to hold the 
nations of Europe to some ethical standard, new issues 
were born or became prominent that eclipsed all former 
issues and set this nation forward on a new journey. 

In his attempts to guide the nation in this new journey. 
Mr. Wilson kept the watchword, "America First," al- 
ways before the people. When certain hyphenated 
American citizens seemed for the time to be losing their 
loyalty, he sent a challenge to "every man and woman 
who thinks first of America to rally to the standards of 
our life;" and groups of foreign born citizens formed 
patriotic societies and pledged their loyalty anew to 
America. And when it appeared that all patience had 
been exhausted and that America would break with 
Germany, "America First" was the talisman that 
calmed the emotions and gave the heart courage. 



CHAPTER XV 

HOLDING TUP] WORLD TO SOME STANDARD 

The American government contended from the first 
for the rights of all neutrals and sought a common 
understanding between the allies and the central 
powers. The effort, however, to hold the world to some 
ethical standard was apparently ineffective. The slow 
but calculating Englishman, with disregard for previous 
rules of conduct, continued to widen the war zone, to 
increase the number of contraband articles, and to cap- 
ture American vessels. The infuriated German, going 
the Englishman one better, marked off another war 
zone, called it a closed sea, and showed a determination 
"t<> exact the utmost quantity of destruction and killing 
from the allies, no matter what happened to innocent 
subjects of the allies, and no matter what absolutely 
innocent neutrals suffered." 

It was not until America "had its own list of out- 
rages" that this government undertook with any con- 
vincing power to bring the warring nations to some 
ethical standard. These outrages had already begun 
in April when the President, in speaking to the Press 
Association, declared that if any nation "wants a scrap, 

307 



308 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

an interesting scrap that is worth while, I'm his man." 
Within less than a week from that day the American 
Oil Tank Steamer Gushing was damaged by a mine or 
submarine, later (May 1) the Steamer Gulflight, another 
American vessel, was sunk off the Scilly Islands, with a 
loss of three lives. But on May 7 the greatest tragedy of 
the war occurred. The great transatlantic liner, the 
Lusitania, bound from New York to Liverpool, carrying 
an enormous quantity of war material and having a pas- 
senger list of 2,104 men, women, and children, including 
187 Americans, was sunk by a German submarine, and 
about 1,500 passengers were lost, including over a 
hundred Americans. 

It really appeared at the time that one nation, at least, 
was looking "for a scrap" with this country. And these 
tragedies, culminating in the sinking of the Lusitania, 
aroused the war spirit in this country almost beyond the 
control of the few cool heads who were endeavoring to 
keep the government steady in the great crisis. 

The American people at once indicted the whole Ger- 
man nation for the willful, brutal murder of innocent 
men, women, and children. The English nation was 
already convicted of forcible trespass ; but, before the 
bar of public opinion, the trial for murder superseded 
all other cases on the docket, the verdict was announced 
simultaneously with the drawing of the indictment and 
summary punishment was demanded. But since the 



HOLDING TO A STANDARD 309 

executioner was the President of the United States, there 
was a stay of judgment while the partisans raged and 
the people imagined vain things. 

This nation became so excited that the press of the 
country, with some notable exceptions, was clamoring 
for war with Germany. Many went so far as to say 
that the act of sinking the Lusitania was deliberately 
framed and executed by Germany to draw the United 
States into war, since that nation, already hard pressed 
by the allies and seeing the end, was seeking an excuse 
for suing for peace. Subsequent events have proven 
how little these prophets knew. However, many of them 
published newspapers and furnished the material from 
which even millions of American citizens made up their 
opinions. It was natural, therefore, for the public, 
having accepted the above statement, to go a step farther 
and reach the conclusion that the President's attitude 
had been wrong all the time, since he could have ended 
the slaughter and coaxed back to earth the beautiful 
dove of peace, if he had declared war, or made a noise 
like war, when the neutrality of Belgium was violated. 
His critics even went so far as to say that if he had 
gone down into Mexico with a big army, he would have 
so impressed Europe that even the European war might 
have been averted. 

The voice was so loud for immediate war with Ger- 
many that even the thoughtful conservatives became 



310 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

uneasy. In the midst of it all, however, President "Wilson 
kept his head, while the storm raged furiously about 
him. 

Three days after this great tragedy, President Wilson 
without having indicated to the public what his first act 
would be, journeyed to Philadelphia to address a 
large body of foreign-born citizens who were completing 
their probationary term and becoming naturalized. 
Those who accompanied him on that journey saw that 
the President of the United States was aware of the 
fact that he was facing the greatest crisis of his 
administration, and that the future of this nation 
would be affected greatly by the course that he chose 
to follow. 

The Philadelphia speech contained no word to in- 
dicate that anything unusual had happened or would 
happen. It was a well conceived address suitable to the 
occasion, but containing nothing of special interest to 
the nation at that time save in one paragraph : 

''America," lie said, "must have the conscious- 
ness that on all sides it touches elbows and 
touches heart with all the nations of mankind. 
The example of America must be a special 
example, and must be an example not merely of 
peace, because it will not fight, but because peace 
is a healing and elevating influence of the world, 



EOLDING TO A STANDARD 311 

and strife is not. There is such a thing as a 

man being too proud to fight. There is such a 
thing as a nation being so right that it does not 
need to convince others by force that it is right." 

It was the last two sentences especially that attracted 
attention. The entire address and the occasion have 
all been forgotten by the public, but these two sentences 
;iii' still quoted by controversialists who seek to prove 
or disprove the wisdom of his foreign policy. These 
sentences were caught up and ridiculed. "Too proud to 
fight!" And Germany slapping this nation in the 
face! "There is such a thing as a nation being so right 
that it does not need to convince others by force that it 
is right !" And the whole world sneering at us in our 
humiliation ! 

In all the tremendous excitement following this 
tragedy and the ridicule that was heaped upon these 
sentences, the President maintained his poise. 1 > 1 1 1 de- 
cided to make no more speeches for the present. Still 
the people waited for some sign as to what course this 
nation would take. 

Three days after the Philadelphia speech, and six days 
after the tragedy, the President, by the aid of his 
cabinet, had prepared a note to be sent to Germany. 
The American people were straining every nerve to guess 
its contents. What words would be adequate to the 
offense? What could Germany do to avert war with 



312 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

this nation? Then the world was advised that the note 
had been sent. 

In a calm and dignified way the President reviewed 
the effect of the submarine warfare on American lives 
and American interests. The Falaba, the Gushing, the 
Gulflight, and finally the torpedoing and sinking of the 
steamship Lusitania "constitute a series of events," the 
note declared, "which the Government of the United 
States has observed with growing concern, distress, and 
amazement. ... It cannot now believe that these 
acts, so contrary to the rule, the policies, and the spirit 
of modern warfare, could have the countenance or sanc- 
tion of that great Government. . . . " The note then 
renewed the excuse offered by Germany at the beginning 
of the submarine warfare for resorting to this mode 
of defense. 

"The Government of the United States," the 
note continued, "has been apprised that the Im- 
perial German Government considered themselves 
to be obliged by the extraordinary circumstances 
of the present war, and the measures adopted by 
their adversaries in seeking to cut Germany off 
from all commerce, to adopt methods of retalia- 
tion which go much beyond the ordinary methods 
of warfare at sea, in the proclamation of a war 
zone from which they have warned neutral ships 



HOLDING TO A STANDARD 313 

to keep away. This Government has already 
taken occasion to inform the Imperial Govern- 
ment that it cannot admit the adoption of such 
measures or such a warning of danger to operate 
as in any degree an abbreviation of the rights 
of American shipmasters or of American citizens 
bound on lawful errands as passengers on mer- 
chant ships of belligerent nationality; and that 
it must hold the Imperial German Government to 
a strict accountability for any infringement of 
those rights, intentional or incidental. It does 
not understand the Imperial German Government 
to question those rights. It assumes, on the con- 
trary, that the Imperial German Government 
accepts, as of course, the rule that the lives of 
non-combatants, whether they be of neutral 
citizenship or citizens of one of the nations at 
war, cannot lawfully or rightfully be put in 
jeopardy by the capture or destruction of an 
unarmed merchantman, and recognizes also, as all 
other nations do, the obligation to take the usual 
precaution of visit and search to ascertain 
whether a suspected merchantman is in fact 
carrying contraband of war under a neutral 
flag." 



314 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

The note then called "the attention of the Imperial 
German Government" to the fact that the submarine 
warfare could not be carried on and the rights of non- 
combatants be respected, since the attack must be so 
sudden that safety cannot be given to the passengers. 

"Manifestly, submarines cannot be used against 
merchantmen, as the last few weeks have shown, 
without an inevitable violation of many sacred 
principles of justice and humanity." 

Moreover, the rights of American citizens were clearly 
defined. It was declared that : 

"American citizens act within their indisput- 
able rights in taking their ships and in traveling 
wherever their legitimate business calls them 
upon the high seas, and exercise those rights in 
what should be the well-justified confidence that 
their lives will not be endangered by acts done 
in clear violation of universally acknowledged 
international obligations, and certainly in the 
confidence that their own government will sus- 
tain them in the exercise of their rights." 

The President referred to the act of the German 
Ambassador at Washington in addressing, through the 
newspapers, the people of the United States, in which 



HOLDING TO A STAN DAK I) 315 

he said, "that every citizen of the United States who 
exorcised his right of free trade upon the seas would 
do so at his peril if his journey should take him within 
the zone of waters within which the Imperial German 
Navy was using submarines 'against the commerce of 
Great Britain and France.' " And this act was char- 
acterized as a "surprising irregularity." 

lie concluded the note with a strong statement of this 
Government's attitude: 

"It confidently expects, therefore, that the 
Imperial German Government will disavow the 
acts of which the Government of the United 
States complains; that they will make reparation 
so far as reparation is possible for injuries which 
are without measure, and that they will take 
immediate steps to prevent the occurrence of 
anything so obviously subversive of the prin- 
ciples of warfare for which the Imperial German 
Government has in the past so wisely and so 
firmly contended. 

"The Government and people of the United 
States look to the Imperial German Government 
for just, prompt, and enlightened action in this 
vital matter, with the greatest confidence, because 
the United States and Germany are bound 
together not only by special ties of friendship, 



316 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

but also by the explicit stipulations of the Treaty 
of 1828, between the United States and the King- 
dom of Prussia. 

''Expressions of regret and offers of repara- 
tion in the case of the destruction of neutral 
ships sunk by mistake, while they may safely 
satisfy international obligations, if no loss of life 
results, cannot justify or excuse a practice, the 
natural and necessary effect of which is to sub- 
ject neutral persons to new and immeasurable 
risks. 

"The Imperial German Government will not 
expect the Government of the United States to 
omit any word or any act necessary to the per- 
formance of its sacred duty of maintaining the 
rights of the United States and its citizens and 
of safeguarding their free exercise and enjoy- 
ment. ' [ 

The President was appealing to Germany's great 
traditions and to her sense of honor and of justice; he 
was pleading, not for the safety of American citizens 
alone, but for the cause of humanity, and he was en- 
deavoring to do what war could not do; namely, exalt 
the rule of right which "holds the community of the 
world to some standard." Germany had at last been 
brought before the American judgment seat. 



HOLDING TO A STANDARD 317 

There was no evidence of ridicule anywhere when this 
note was published. On the contrary, people everywhere 
rejoiced, and Americans were proud of their President. 
And as one metropolitan newspaper (The New York 
Times) said, "Every American citizen must be willing 
to affix his signature in approval of the firm but tem- 
perate tone and the indisputable justice of its repre- 
sentations and demands." 

This note seemed fully to satisfy the American public. 
No act since the beginning of his administration received 
such universal approval by all parties and all classes of 
people. And his policies were now in great favor. Even 
the Philadelphia speech was forgotten for the time. 

Germany's reply, however, which came on May 29, 
was very unsatisfactory. It stated that Germany had 
no intention of "submitting neutral ships, which are 
guilty of no hostile acts, to attacks by a submarine." But 
if such ships have suffered the note declared that it was 
owing to mistakes in identification attributable to the 
British government's use of neutral flags. In regard to 
the Faldba it said: "In the case of the sinking of the 
English steamer Falaba, the commanding officers of the 
German submarine had the intention of allowing pas- 
sengers and crew ample opportunity to save themselves." 
But as to the right to sink vessels in the "closed sea" 
marked off by Germany, the note attempted to justify 
the sinking of the Lusitania on the grounds that it was 
an auxiliary cruiser and a munition carrier, but it did 



318 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

express "deep regret to the neutral Governments con- 
cerned that nationals of those countries lost their lives 
on that occasion." 

This note was published to the world on May 30, and 
its incompleteness jarred this nation violently. It was the 
signal for the press of this country to break out anew. 
In fact, it appeared that the press of the country had 
joined a militaristic party to drive the nation into war ; 
and since the public drew its information from the press, 
the vocal part of this country was in a great passion 
again. This condition led the editor of the Review of 
Reviews to declare that "the most sickening thing in 
American histor}', perhaps, was the reckless gloating of 
American newspapers over a dangerous situation that 
they were doing everything in their power to create. ' ' 

On June 1, while the feeling was intense, German}' 
declared that the attack on the Steamer Gulflight was 
due "to an unfortunate accident." Moreover, it ex- 
pressed regrets "to the Government of the United States 
concerning this incident," and declared "itself ready to 
furnish full compensation for the damage thereby sus- 
tained by American citizens." 

This gave some encouragement to this country that 
Germany was yielding somewhat in her demands. How- 
ever, on June 2, President Wilson held an interview with 
Count Von Bernstoff, the German Ambassador, and 
during the day the White House was deluged with 
telegrams from American citizens of German birth and 



HOLDING TO A STANDARD 319 

German societies in this country, beseeching the Presi- 
dent not to take drastic action in the German crisis. 

The situation was so critical that the President's 
Cabinet took a most gloomy view of the probable out- 
come. The Secretary of State. Mr. Bryan, one of the 
greatesl advocates of peace in this country, fearing that 
this nation was drifting into war with Germany, resigned 
from the Cabinet. His resignation came before the 
reply to Germany's note was completed and his act 
increased the fear that the President was preparing an 
ultimatum that would mean war. 

The reply to Germany was forwarded on June f). 
But the newspapers of America did not receive it until 
two days later. 

After reviewing the points that were concurred in 
by the Imperial German Government, and those that 
were not accepted by that nation, the Administration 
declared in the second note that : 

"Whatever be the other facts regarding the 
Lusitania, the principal fact is that a groat 
steamer, primarily ami chiefly a conveyance for 
passengers, and carrying more than a thousand 
souls, who had no part or lot in the conduct of 
the war, was torpedoed and sunk without so much 
as a challenge or a warning, and that men, women, 
and children were sent to their death in circum- 



320 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

stances unparalleled in modern warfare. The 
fact that more than 100 American citizens were 
among those who perished made it the duty of 
the Government of the United States to speak of 
these things, and once more, with solemn 
emphasis, to call the attention of the Imperial 
German Government to the grave responsibility 
which the Government of the United States con- 
ceives that it has incurred in this tragic occur- 
rence, and to the indisputable principle upon 
which that responsibility rests. 

"The Government of the United States is con- 
tending for something much greater than mere 
rights of property or privileges of commerce. 
It is contending for nothing less high and sacred 
than the rights of humanity, which every Govern- 
ment honors itself in respecting, and which no 
Government is justified in resigning on behalf of 
those under its care and authority. Only her 
actual resistance to capture, or refusal to stop 
when ordered to do so for the purpose, of visit, 
would have afforded the commander of the sub- 
marine any justification for so much as putting 
the lives of those on board in jeopardy. This 
principle the Government of the United States 
understands the explicit instruction issued on 



BOLDING TO A STANDARD 321 

August 3, 1914, by the Imperial German Ad- 
miralty to its Commanders at sea to have recog 
nized and embodied, as do the moral codes of all 
other nations, and upon it every traveler and 
seaman had a right to depend. It is upon this 
principle of humanity, as well as upon the law- 
founded upon this principle, that the United 
States must stand." 

The note expressed the desire of the Administration 
to act on the suggestion from Germans that the United 
States Government use its good offices in an attempt to 
find some basis for an understanding between Germany 
and England by which the character and conditions of 
war upon the sea may be changed. Then he returned 
to the issue between these two nations. 

"The Government of the United States, there- 
fore, very earnestly and very solemnly renews 
the representations of the note transmitted to 
the Imperial German Government on the 15th of 
May, and relies in these representations upon 
the principles of humanity, the universally recog- 
nized understandings of international law, and 
the ancient friendship of the German nation. 

"The Government of the United States cannot 
admit that the proclamation of a war zone from 



322 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

which neutral ships have been warned to keep 
away may be made to operate as in any degree 
an abbreviation of the rights either of the Amer- 
ican ship masters or of American citizens bound 
on lawful errands as passengers on merchant 
ships of belligerent nationality. It does not 
understand the Imperial German Government to 
question those rights. It understands it also to 
accept as established beyond question the prin- 
ciple that the lives of non-combatants cannot 
lawfully or rightfully be put in jeopardy by the 
capture or destruction of an unresisting mer- 
chantman, and to recognize the obligation to take 
sufficient precaution to ascertain whether a sus- 
pected merchantman is in fact of belligerent 
nationality or is in fact carrying contraband of 
war under a neutral flag. The Government of 
the United States deems it reasonable to expect 
that the Imperial German Government will adopt 
the measures necessary to put these principles 
into practice in respect to the safeguarding of 
American lives and American ships, and asks 
for assurance that this will be done." 

The nation was in ecstasies over this note and there 
were repeated expressions of profound gratitude to the 



HOLDING TO A STANDARD 323 

President of the United States for having taken a course 
exactly opposite to that which the newspapers, through 
many anxious days, had announced that he would take. 
And the effect in the minds of a troubled nation "was 
like that of a beautiful June morning after threatening 
skies and unverified predictions of floods and cyclones." 

This note had a good effect on the German nation as 
well, as the reply of July 8 shows. It declared that 
"Germany has likewise been always tenacious of the 
principle that war should be conducted against the 
armed and organized forces of the enemy, but that the 
civilian population of the enemy should be spared as far 
as possible from the measures of war." It then ex- 
pressed the hope that some way may be found "to 
regulate the law of maritime war in a manner guaran- 
teeing the freedom of the seas and will welcome it with 
gratitude and satisfaction if it can work hand in hand 
with the American Government in that occasion." 

After stressing the fact that it was necessary for the 
German Government in this fight for existence "to do 
all within its power to protect and save the lives of 
German subjects, the note declared that the Imperial 
Government "repeats the assurance that American ships 
will not be hindered in the prosecution of legitimate 
shipping, and the lives of American citizens on neutral 
vessels shall not be placed in jeopardy." 

In this world shocking war, with the previous 
standards destroyed, the conscience of the warring 



324 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

nations was at last being drawn out to recognize that, 
in all the confusion a law higher than their own selfish 
interest still lived. 

Germany's reply was. so conciliatory that the people 
of the United States were calming down. Moreover, the 
submarine warfare was greatly subsiding, and all parties 
in America were really giving the President great credit 
for having accomplished a supposedly impossible task — 
the restoration of the rights of neutrals and justice to 
humanity in the war zone. 

However, after this note was written the Nebraskan, 
another American vessel was torpedoed. But the Ger- 
man Government at once notified this nation that the 
sinking of this vessel was "an unfortunate accident" 
and the German Government "expressed its regret at 
the occurrence . . . and declared its readiness to 
make compensation for the damage thereby sustained by 
American citizens. ' ' 

The stand taken by the United States in the interests 
of humanity was holding the world to some standard. 
The judgment of enlightened public opinion was having 
a greater effect on the belligerents and especially Ger- 
many than any positive aid that this nation could have 
given the allies. On September 1, the German Ambas- 
sador gave out an official statement that "liners will 
not be sunk by our submarines without warning and 
without safety of the lives of non-combatants, provided 
that the liners do not try to escape or offer resistance." 



HOLDING TO A STANDARD 325 

Bowever, on August 19, the Arabic of the White Star 
Line was torpedoed by a German submarine, and 
American lives were again destroyed. The Arabic was 
the largest of the English munition-carriers. It was only 
incidentally a passenger ship, and when she sailed from 
New York on July 28, she carried, it is said, the greatest 
cargo of war munitions that ever left America. More- 
over, the Arabic had been transferred from another route 
for the express purpose of carrying war munitions. For 
months, before the sinking of the vessel, German sub- 
marines, it is said, had been trying to intercept her. 
And when the deed was finally done, the press of the 
country again came forth with their war head lines, 
without securing all the attending circumstances, and 
again the intense feeling of a large part of the people 
of the United States was worked into a state of frenzy 
because the Arabic case seemed to be related to the con- 
troversy over the Lusitania. But the President pro- 
ceeded as deliberately as before. 

In due time the German Ambassador notified the 
Administration that "the Imperial Government regrets 
and disavows this act, and has notified Commander 
Schneider accordingly." Moreover, it was declared, 
"under these circumstances my Government is prepared 
to pay an indemnity for American lives which, to its 
deep regret, have been lost on the Arabic/' As a result 
of the diplomatic correspondence following the sinking 
of the Lusitania, Germany finally admitted thai Amer- 



326 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

ican ships have a right to sail through the war zone 
without danger of submarine attacks, that American 
ships carrying conditional contraband on merchant ves- 
sels of belligerents, are not to be put in danger, and 
finally that neutral merchantmen of other nations "are 
exempt from interference except when carrying contra- 
band." 

The President's policies were at last about to triumph. 
Not only American merchantmen, but those of all 
neutral nations prospered by his leadership. The war 
had been in progress eighteen months, but it had settled 
nothing. A diplomatic contest had been waged about 
nine months, and the results were so far a complete 
victory for American diplomacy. 

As the submarine disappeared from the old war zone 
declared by Germany, it reappeared in the Mediterranean 
Sea where the Ancona, and the Persia were sunk. In 
both cases American lives were lost. This time Austria 
was apparently the violator, and again diplomacy won. 
Germany even came forward, not in response to a direct 
demand, but in recognition of the legal soundness of 
the President's position, and declared that the general 
principles of international law will be strictly observed 
for the future and if German commanders "should not 
have obeyed the orders given them, they will be pun- 
nished," and reparation will be made if American lives 
are lost. Moreover, the Administration secured from 
Austria the promise that even "hostile private ships in 



EOLDING TO A STANDARD 327 

so far as they do not flee or offer resistance, may not be 
destroyed without the persons on board having been 
placed in safety," and it was gratifying to learn that, 
"The triumph of President Wilson's peaceful, patient, 
reasonable diplomacy seems to be near at hand." 

This victory for neutrals was achieved by the Presi- 
dent of the United States during the greatest war in 
history, without bloodshed, save of the unfortunate vic- 
tims whose untimely and very tragic deaths restored the 
rights of humanity when all international morality 
seemed to be lost. And many millions of American citi- 
zens rejoiced and thanked God that this nation was 
following an ideal rather than the grim visaged monster 
whom the blood of millions could not satisfy. 

The public temper is made by the act of the moment, 
and the public mind seems to remember only similar acts 
of the past. If the situation is good now, it has always 
been favorable ; but if it is bad, times are rapidly grow- 
ing worse. Therefore, the attitude of the public mind 
toward the President alternated between utter distrust 
and a heart full of gratitude. However, there were those 
who so hoped for war, that even a diplomatic victory 
brought such discontent and ravings and ridicule that 
the New York Sun was led to ask if American news- 
papers really want war. 

"Is it possible," the Sun asks, "that there is any 
American newspaper or any American citizen in public 
or private life, now really hoping at the bottom of his 



328 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

heart that the controversy with the Central Powers about 
American rights of trade on the high seas may reach a 
pass which shall make war inevitable? 

"It is almost inconceivable that such should be the 
case ; yet every time that a distinct gain is made by our 
State Department in its progress toward a satisfactory 
and honorable settlement of the whole business there 
are expressions here and there which give color to the 
idea that the gain has caused disappointment rather 
than joy. 

' ' During the past sixty hours or so the progress toward 
a complete agreement as to the validity of all the 
American contentions has been notable. There is no 
evidence yet in hand enabling our Government to 
identify the assailant of the Persia; but practically 
every principle of civilized international law on which 
our demands are based has been admitted and accepted 
by Berlin, except only as to 'reprisals' in the so-called 
war zone of neutral waters." 

On May 13, 1915, President "Wilson undertook the 
most difficult task of his administration. In fact, the 
task was declared impossible, because the submarine 
was a new engine of warfare, and was not safeguarded 
by any existing rules. Many peace-loving citizens were 
willing to throw over international law, warn all Amer- 
ican citizens and American vessels to avoid war areas, 
and stand absolutely aside. The President, however, 
refused to follow such advice. He very firmly insisted 



HOLDING TO A STANDARD 329 

on the rights of humanity regardless of now inventions 
or old international rules, and humanity lias the Govern- 
ment of the United States to thank for exalting the law 
of right and justice above the brutal and primitive rule 
of might to kill innocent women and children. The New 
Republic declared that "through the agency of Mr. Wil- 
son's much ridiculed notes, the law of visit and search 
has been rewritten on the wall for all the world to read 
and to obey. The submarine commanders must show 
that instead of trying to kill non-combatants, they arc 
trying to avoid the killing." And this was accomplished 
without threat or bluster, but by keeping constantly be- 
fore the world the one principle that right and justice 
are more lasting than brute force. 

In referring to his efforts to maintain peace in Amer- 
ica, Mr. Wilson, in an address at St. Louis, February 3, 
1916, justified his policies and exalted American 
diplomacy in these words: 

"We respect other nations, and absolutely 
respect their rights so long as they respect our 
rights. We do not claim anything for ourselves 
which they would not, under like circumstances, 
claim for themselves. Every statement of right 
that we have made is grounded upon the utter- 
ances of their own public men and their own 
judges. There is no dispute about the rights of 



330 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

nations under the understandings of international 
law. 

"America has drawn no fine point. America 
has raised no novel issue. America has merely 
asserted the rights of her citizens and her govern- 
ment, upon what is written plain on all the docu- 
ments of international intercourse. Therefore, 
America is not selfish in claiming her rights. She 
is merely standing for the rights of mankind 
when the life of mankind is being disturbed by 
an unprecedented war between the greatest 
nations of the world. 

"Some of these days we shall be able to call 
the statesmen of the older nations to witness that 
it was we who kept the quiet flame of inter- 
national principle burning upon its altar while 
the winds of passion were sweeping away every 
altar in the world. Some of these days they will 
look back with gratification upon the steadfast 
allegiance of the United States to those principles 
of action which every man loves when his temper 
is not upset and his judgment is not disturbed. ' ' 

During the last half of the year 1915 the British 
Admiralty developed considerable skill in destroying the 
German submarine boats. What part the armed mer- 



nOLDIXG TO A STANDARD 331 

chantmen played in this warfare is not known. How- 
ever, the one obstacle left in the way of a complete 
agreement among the nations as to the rules governing 
submarine warfare, was this: Should a merchantman 
engaged in legitimate peaceful trade be armed .' Ger- 
many contended that a merchantman's guns are now 
intended only for submarines. The latter are frail con- 
structions and a single shot may render them helpless. 
"Yet they are expected to observe the rules of visit and 
search precisely as would a powerful cruiser." And 
the American Government was inclined to take the view 
that merchantmen should not be armed, although inter- 
national law at the beginning of the war held to the 
contrary. 

The allies, however, insisted on the rights accorded 
by international law. It was pointed out that the 
British Admiralty in its order of October, 1915, had de- 
clared that ' ' armament is supplied solely for the purpose 
of resisting attack by an armed enemy vessel and must 
not be used for any other purpose whatever." It was 
declared, furthermore, that hostile submarines and air- 
crafts have frequently attacked merchant vessels with- 
out warning. But that "British and allied submarines 
and air crafts have orders not to approach merchant 
vessels. Consequently, it may be presumed that any 
submarine or air craft which deliberately approaches 
or pursues a merchant vessel does so with hostile intent. 
In such cases fire may be opened in self-defense in order 



332 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

to prevent the hostile craft from closing to a rang© at 
which resistance to a sudden attack with bombs or tor- 
pedoes would be impossible." 

This was the recognized rule adopted by the allies at 
the beginning of the war. And readers will remember 
that one of the points of controversy at the time of 
the sinking of the Lusitania had to do with the question 
whether or not she carried guns with which to defend 
herself against submarines. However, on January 18, 
1916, the State Department sought to remove this main 
difficulty between the allies and the central powers. 
It asked the nations to consider a modification of 
this rule, since Germany had agreed to abandon her 
warfare against neutral vessels and to protect neutral 
citizens traveling on merchantmen of belligerent nations. 
The modification asked for was that belligerent nations 
"should be prohibited from carrying any armament 
whatever." Because "the placing of guns on merchant- 
men at the present date of submarine warfare can be 
explained only on the grounds of a purpose to render 
merchantmen superior in force to submarines." And 
the appeal to the nations was concluded with these 
words : 

''My government is impressed with the reason- 
ableness of the argument that a merchant vessel 
carrying an armament of any sort, in view 7 of 
the character of submarine warfare and the de- 



HOLDING TO A STANDARD 333 

fensive weakness of undersea craft, should be 
held to be an auxiliary cruiser, and be so treated 
by a neutral as well as by a belligerent govern- 
ment, and is seriously considering instructing its 
officials accordingly." 

This was asking the British Admiralty to abandon its 
former rule. But the whole question of armed merchant- 
men was already as vexing as it well could be. The 
Secretary of State. Air. Lansing, was earnestly seeking 
to relieve this tension and strain for neutrals as well as 
for belligerents. He argued that the conditions of 
maritime warfare have changed since the days of pirates 
and sea rovers when it was necessary to arm merchant- 
men. 

England, however, was unyielding, although the 
neutral nations of Europe and even France and Italy at 
one time showed a disposition to accept the American 
viewpoint. She defended her position on the ground that 
the appearance of the submarine boat and the submarine 
warfare practiced by Germany made it as necessary now 
for England to arm her merchantmen as in the days of 
pirates and sea rovers. What assurance, it was asked, did 
any nation have that Germany would not soon revive her 
attacks on neutral merchantmen as well as merchantmen 
of belligerent nations? The only defense any vessel 
had against reckless captains was to carry sufficient 
armament "to prevent the hostile craft from closing to 



334 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

a range at which resistance to a sudden attack with 
bomb or torpedo would be impossible." The best 
students of the subject in all its phases, it is said, ad- 
mitted that there were no rules or traditions of inter- 
national law that met the conditions actually existing 
on the sea at that time. 

In the midst of these negotiations and without waiting 
to see if our Government could not obtain from England 
and her allies the admission that the German view was 
reasonable and fair, Germany took a step that made 
further efforts to settle this perplexing question futile. 
In February, the German Government notified the world 
that, after March 1, it would regard merchant ships 
carrying guns as of the character of auxiliary cruisers, 
and that the submarine war would be directed against 
them as against any war vessel; that is, they were not 
to be warned before attack, and all passengers traveling 
on armed merchantmen would do so at their own peril. 

Obviously, from the standpoint of submarine warfare, 
the armed merchantman is a warship. At the same time 
self-preservation demanded that merchantmen should be 
armed. But a new rule was now impossible. Certainly 
America was not empowered to make a new international 
rule without the agreement of all the belligerent nations. 

However, Congress showed a strong disposition to 
accept the view that the armed merchantman was an 
auxiliary cruiser and a resolution was introduced 
in each House to warn all Americans to avoid passage 



HOLDIXU TO A STANDARD 335 

on such vessels. The President naturally opposed very 
vigorously this proposed act, and for the time being the 
Administration and Congress "locked horns with one 
another with such intensity of emotion as is not wit- 
nessed at Washington more than once or twice in a 
lifetime." 

Congress was afraid of war. Not since the sinking of 
the Lusitania did Congress have such a panicky feeling. 
Senators and Members of the House held repeated con- 
ferences with the President. Senator Stone, chairman 
of the committee on Foreign Relations, after a long inter- 
view with him and after "numerous Members of the 
Senate and House had called to discuss this sub- 
ject with me," wrote the President (Feb. 24) reviewing 
their former conference, and declaring that "I am more 
troubled than I have been for many a day." He as- 
sured the President, however, that he was "striving to 
prevent anything being done by any Senator or Member 
calculated to embarrass your diplomatic negotiations." 

lint, lie added, "I find it difficult from my sense of 
duty and responsibility to consent to plunge this nation 
into the vortex of this world war because of the unrea- 
sonable obstinacy of any of the powers." 

In reply to this letter, President Wilson assured 
Senator Stone that he was doing everything in his power 
to keep the United States out of war and lie spoke con- 
fidently that he would continue to succeed. But he 

added : 



336 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

"The course which the Central European 
Powers have announced their intention of follow- 
ing in the future with regard to undersea warfare 
seems for the moment to threaten insuperable 
obstacles, but its apparent meaning is so mani- 
festly inconsistent with explicit assurances re- 
cently given out by those powers with regard to 
their treatment of merchant vessels on the high 
seas that I must believe that explanations will 
presently ensue which will put a different aspect 
upon it. We have had no reason to question their 
good faith or their fidelity to their promises in 
the past, and I for one feel confident that we shall 
have none in the future." 

Then in regard to the right of this nation to establish 
a new international rule, he said : 

"No nation, no group of nations, has the right, 
while war is in progress, to alter or disregard the 
principles which all nations have agreed upon 
in mitigation of the horrors and sufferings of 
war; and if the clear rights of American citizens 
should ever unhappily be abridged or denied by 
any such action we should, it seems to me, have 
in honor no choice as to what our own course 
should be." 



HOLDING TO A STANDARD 337 

lie was most emphatic in his assertion that the rights 
of American citizens should not be abridged in any 
respect, and he explained: 

"To forbid our people to exercise their rights 
for fear we might be called upon to vindicate 
them would be a deep humiliation indeed. It 
would be an implicit, all but explicit, acquiescence 
in the violation of the rights of mankind every- 
where, and of whatever nation or allegiance. It 
would be a deliberate abdication of our hitherto 
proud position as spokesmen, even amidst the 
turmoil of war, for the law and the right. It 
would make everything this Government has 
attempted, and everything that it has achieved 
during this terrible struggle of nations meaning- 
less and futile. 

"It is important to reflect that if, in this in- 
stance, we allowed expediency to take the place 
of principle, the door would inevitably be opened 
to still further concessions. Once accept a 
single abatement of right, and many other humili- 
ations would certainly follow, and the whole fine 
fabric of international law might crumble under 
our hands piece by piece. What we are contend- 
ing for in this matter is of the very essence of 
the things that have made America ;i sovereign 



338 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

nation. She cannot yield them without conceding 
her own impotency as a nation, and making 
virtual surrender of her independent position 
among the nations of the world." 

The President's letter left no doubt in the minds of 
the Senators and the Members what his course would 
be. Moreover, it was in the nature of an ultimatum to 
Germany and Austria that those nations must not carry 
out their armed merchantmen order at the expense of 
the lives of American citizens. 

When this letter was written, Congress was threaten- 
ing to pass resolutions to instruct the President to warn 
American citizens to avoid sailing on armed merchant- 
men in spite of his protest that he should not be 
hampered in his diplomatic correspondence by such 
conduct on the part of the Senators and Members. 

The situation was indeed very grave. And the Presi- 
dent's firm stand struck terror to the souls of Senators 
and Members who already saw grim-visaged war ap- 
proaching. All day long the situation was discussed. 
But after the night and some needed rest a calm settled 
over Congress and the resolutions were side-tracked by 
the leaders. 

Three days later, February 27, Mr. Wilson was the 
guest of the Gridiron Club of Washington. The nation 
was still discussing the possibilities of war and Congress 
was slowly recovering from its fright. But on this occa- 



HOLDING TO A STANDARD 339 

sion he again assured the nation that his one prayer was 
to keep this nation out of war. 

"America ought to keep out of this war," lie 
said. ki Slic ought to keep out of this war at the 
sacrifice of everything except the one thing upon 
which her character and history are founded, her 
sense of humanity and justice. If she sacrifices 
that, she lias ceased to be America ; she has ceased 
to entertain and to love the traditions which have 
made us proud to be Americans; and when we 
go about seeking safety at the expense of human- 
ity, then I for one will believe that I have always 
been mistaken in what I have conceived to be the 
spirit of American history." 

Tims the matter stood for awhile. The President 
refused to hold further conference with the leaders, and 
the resolutions were about to die in the committee rooms. 
Then it became an open secret that the President had 
been embarrassed by the "rebellion" in Congress. The 
Central Powers were resting their case on the assumption 
that the American nation was not supporting him, and 
March 1 was almost at hand when Germany's new order 
was to be enforced. There was a feeling of anxiety 
pervading the Capitol, when suddenly, on February 29, 
Mr. Wilson startled not only Congress, but the entire 



340 WOODROW WTLRON AS PRESIDENT 

nation by demanding that the Senators and Members go 
on record and thus show the combatants how this nation 
stood and whether the peoples' representatives were 
behind the President or not. 

This was, perhaps, Mr. Wilson 's boldest act during the 
entire war. He was the President of the United States, 
and he would convince the Central Powers on the eve of 
renewing their submarine warfare that the entire United 
States was backing its President. 

Therefore, he wrote to Mr. Edward Pou, the ranking 
member of the Committee on Rules of the House of 
Representatives, "to urge an early vote" upon the 
resolutions. 

"The report," he said, "that there are divided 
counsels in Congress in regard to the foreign 
policy of the Government is being made use of 
in foreign capitals. I believe that report to be 
false, but so long as it is anywhere credited it 
cannot fail to do the greatest harm and expose 
the country to the most serious risks." 

He was now asking for an action that he had 
opposed heretofore in order "that all doubts 
and conjectures may be swept away and our for- 
eign relations once more cleared of damaging 
misunderstandings. ' ' 



HOLDING TO A STANDARD ;;| i 

He concluded his letter by Baying thai "the 

matter is of so grave importance and lies bo 
clearly within the field of executive initiative 
thai I venture to hope that your committee will 
not think that I am taking unwarranted liberty 

in making this suggestion as to the business of the 
House, and I very earnestly commend it to their 
immediate consideration." 

The Senate was in confusion, and the House was a 
hot bed of excitement. On the day following, while the 
two bodies were debating whether they would give the 
President a vote of confidence and drop the whole ques- 
tion of armed merchantmen, Mr. Wilson served notice 
that he would consent to nothing less than a record vote 
on the resolutions before he went on with the German 
submarine negotiations. And this was on March 1. the 
date for the beginning of execution of the new sub- 
marine order by Germany and Austria. 

And Congress decided on March 2 to face the clear cut 
issue, while the President, pale and somewhat careworn 
from the long controversy, waited with grim resolution 
for Congress to line up behind him. 

His courage and wisdom soon had their reward. 
Within five days after Congress decided to face t he 
issue, both the Senate and the House tabled the resolu- 



342 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

tions by overwhelming majorities — the Senate 64 to 14 
and the House 276 to 142. President Wilson dared 
Congress to set limits to the exercise of his constitu- 
tional powers, and it capitulated, and he was again in- 
trusted fully with the authority to protect the rights 
of Americans and the honor of this nation. The neutral 
nations might still rely upon him to hold the warring 
powers to some ethical standard. 

It was just at this time, March 9, that Villa's bandits 
made a raid on the American town of Columbus, and 
the policy of "watchful waiting" in Mexico was at an 
end. Those were busy days for the President. 

Meanwhile, the submarine question remained just 
where it was when Secretary Lansing sent his note to 
the combatants. The President had adopted a policy of 
"watchful waiting" toward the Central Powers, but 
with the outstanding warning that the rights of neutrals 
and non-combatants must be respected. However, 
within a few days the submarine warfare was renewed. 

On March 24 the British passenger steamer Sussex, 
engaged in cross channel traffic and carrying many 
American passengers, was torpedoed and fifty passen- 
gers were killed. 

On the same date the American State Department 
received the refusal of the Allies to accept the proposal 
of Mr. Lansing, submitted on January 18, designed to 
regulate the operations of submarines against merchant 
ships and to prevent the arming of merchant ships. 



HOLDING TO A STANDARD 343 

On the following day news was received in America 
that the Englishman, a freighter bound for Portland, 
.Maine, was torpedoed near the English Coast. And on 
March 30, the Portugal, a Franco-Russian hospital ship, 
was sunk by a Turkish submarine in the Black Sea and 
nearly 100 physicians, nurses, and members of the crew 
were lost. 

The last week in March, therefore, brought a revival 
of cruelties and barbarities, which, this nation was re- 
peatedly assured, would not be resumed. At first the 
German Government denied the Sussex was sunk by 
German submarines. And then an investigation fol- 
lowed, which proved that the ill-fated channel steamer. 
like many other passenger vessels, was the victim of the 
German submarine. 

"Without further words, President Wilson appeared 
before Congress, April 19, and declared very solemnly 
that "a situation has arisen in the foreign relations of 
this country of which it is my plain duty to inform you 
very frankly." 

He then reviewed the controversy between this coun- 
try and the central powers from the beginning of the 
submarine war to the sinking of the Sussex. 

He declared this last act "must stand forth, 
as the sinking of the Lusitania did, as so singu- 
larly tragical and unjustifiable as to constitute a 
truly terrible example of the inhumanity of sub- 



344 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

marine warfare as the commanders of German 
vessels have for the past twelve months been 
conducting it. If this instance stood alone, some 
explanation, some disavowal by the German Gov- 
ernment, some evidence of criminal mistake or 
willful disobedience on the part of the commander 
of the vessel that fired the torpedo might be 
sought for or entertained; but unhappily it does 
not stand alone. Recent events make the conclu- 
sion inevitable that it is only one of the most 
extreme and distressing instances of the spirit 
and method of warfare which the Imperial Ger- 
man Government has mistakenly adopted, and 
which from the first exposed that government to 
the reproach of thrusting all human rights aside 
in pursuit of its immediate objects." 

He spoke with feeling when he told how patient 
the Administration had been, how it had accepted 
"the successive explanations and assurances of 
the Imperial German Government as given in 
entire sincerity and good faith," and how it had 
been willing "to wait until the significance of 
the facts became absolutely unmistakable and 
susceptible of but one interpretation." 

Moreover, he declared, "The Imperial German 



HOLDING TO A .STANDARD 345 

Government has been unable to put any limit or 
restraints upon its warfare against either freight 
or passenger ships. It has, therefore, become 
painfully evident that the position which this 
government took at the very outset is inevitable, 
namely, that the use of submarines for the de- 
struction of an enemy's commerce is of necessity, 
because of the very character of the vessels em- 
ployed and the very method of attack which 
their employment of course involves, incompatible! 
with the principles of humanity, the long estab- 
lished and incontrovertible rights of neutrals, 
and the sacred immunities of non-combatants." 

Mr. Wilson then measured his words very 
carefully as he told the nations' representatives 
that he felt .it his duty "to say to the Imperial 
Government that if it is still its purpose to 
prosecute unwarranted and indiscriminate war- 
fare against vessels of commerce by the use of sub- 
marines" the Government of the United States 
has but one course it can pursue. It can have 
"no choice but to sever diplomatic relations with 
the Government of the German Empire." 

"This decision I have arrived at, with the 
keenest regret," he said in conclusion. "The 



346 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

possibility of the action contemplated I am sure 
all thoughtful Americans will look forward to 
with unaffected reluctance. But we cannot for- 
get that we are in some sort and by the force 
of circumstances, the responsible spokesman of 
the rights of humanity, and that we cannot remain 
silent while those rights seem in process of being 
swept utterly away in the maelstrom of this 
terrible war. We owe it to a due regard for our 
own rights as a nation, to our sense of duty as a 
representative of the rights of neutrals the world 
over, and to a just conception of the rights of 
mankind to take this stand now with the utmost 
solemnity and firmness. 

"I have taken it, and taken it in the confidence 
that it will meet with your approval and support. 
All sober-minded men must unite in hoping that 
the Imperial German Government, which has in 
other circumstances stood as the champion of all 
that we are now contending for in the interests 
of humanity, may recognize the justice of our 
demands and meet them in the spirit in which 
they are made." 

Congress was asked for no official advice or authority. 
The President of the United States was simply exercis- 



HOLDING TO A STANDARD 347 

ing his constitutional prerogative to inform the Legis- 
lative body of the state of the Union and a step the 
executive had already taken, since his address to Congress 
was a part of a note that he had already sent to Germany. 
Several days before this address was delivered he held 
conferences with leaders of both Houses and of the two 
leading parties. And he was already confident that 
Congress was supporting him. Moreover, he knew that 
he was being supported by an overwhelming majority 
of American citizens, who had been waiting patiently 
for him to take the very step that he had been seemingly 
reluctant to take. 

The country was now prepared to stand behind the 
President. The pacifists, who were so frightened when 
the Lusitonia was sunk, had regained their courage and, 
although for peace, were supporting him. The ardent 
militarists who could see no reason for the President's 
waiting so long to take this vigorous step were, of course, 
ready to back up the Administration. And with a nation 
solidly believing in him, Germany reluctantly abandoned 
the position that had given rise to this new trouble. The 
note dated May 4 and published in the newspapers the 
following morning announced a change in the German 
submarine policy. 

It stated that the Imperial Government "is prepared 
to do its utmost to confine the operations of the war for 
the rest of its duration to the fighting forces of the 
belligerents." Moreover, it expressed a determination 



348 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

to impose upon all its commanders at sea the limitations 
of the recognized rules of international law upon which 
the Government of the United States had insisted. It 
explained also that German naval forces had received the 
following order : 

"In accordance with the general principles of visit 
and search and the destruction of merchant vessels, 
recognized by international law, such vessels, both within 
and without the area declared a naval war zone, shall 
not be sunk without warning and without saving human 
lives unless the ship attempts to escape or offer re- 
sistance. ' ' 

The German Foreign Secretary admitted that at this 
stage of the war, after twenty-one months of fighting, 
the German people could not think of "seriously threat- 
ening the maintenance of peace between the two 
nations." On May 8, Secretary Lansing replied with a 
brief note "accepting the Imperial Government's declara- 
tion of its abandonment of the policy which has so 
seriously menaced the good relations between the two 
countries." And the final word in the controversy was 
that "the Government of the United States will rely 
upon a scrupulous execution henceforth of the new 
altered policy of the Imperial Government." 

Thus ended the long controversy between the United 
States and the Imperial German Government. Perhaps 
no neutral nation has in times of war accomplished so 



HOLDING TO A STANDARD 349 

much for the non-combatants. The great aggressor in 
the war was forced by peaceful means to recognize an 
ethical law that reigns above the mad brutality of reck- 
less belligerents. To be sure it took time. The reforms 
of peace come more slowly than changes through revolu- 
tion. But they are more permanent. 

England soon followed Germany in bowing to inter- 
national law. This nation had made one protest after 
another against England's violation of neutral rights 
in the seas. Our mails were seized, business was inter- 
fered with, vessels were confiscated, and American 
citizens were detained. 

England was next to omnipotent on the seas. But the 
President challenged the British blockade as fearlessly 
and as skilfully as he did Germany's submarine warfare. 
The British Government, however, was relying upon the 
Declaration of London and British Orders in Council 
which was never signed and which bound nobody. But 
this Administration held that international law, not 
British Orders in Council, should be the final authority. 

Soon after Germany agreed to abandon her submarine 
warfare against neutrals and non-combatants, the Eng- 
lish prize courts decided that British Orders in Council 
"in derogation of neutral rights were invalid unless con- 
formable with international law," and the English Gov- 
ernment declared that Orders in Council henceforth will 
be made to conform to the law which they had assumed 



350 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

to ignore, and that all Orders in Council would be recon- 
sidered, and new orders would be issued in conformity 
with international law. 

England's regard for this higher law, this law of 
nations, was expressed just before Germany inaugurated 
her new submarine policy. Admiral Beresford was ad- 
vocating that all goods entering Germany should be 
considered contraband, and he remarked that if this step 
had been taken at the beginning of the conflict, war 
would now be over. Sir Edward Grey is reported to 
have replied with the following very significant remark, 
"If we had gone as far as that, the war might possibly 
have been over by now, but it would have been over 
because the whole world would have been against us, and 
we and our allies, too, would have collapsed under the 
general resentment of the whole world." 

The viewpoints of the Allies and the Central Powers 
were alike to this extent, it was necessary to embarrass 
the enemy as much as possible and both violated estab- 
lished principles of international law. While England 
seized neutral vessels she appropriated only that which 
could be restored after the war. Germany went a step 
further and sacrificed the lives of innocent men, women, 
and children. These could not be restored after the war. 
Hence, the greater case was against Germany. 

It was the diplomacy of President Wilson that ended 
the murder of innocent non-combatants and restored the 
rights of neutrals to the high seas. And the greatest 



HOLDING TO A STANDARD 351 

praise is merited because it was accomplished when half 
of the world was mad, without plunging this nation 
into war. "America has lifted high the light which will 
shine unto all generations and guide the feet of man- 
kind to the goal of justice and liberty and peace." 



CHAPTER XVI 

MILITARY PREPAREDNESS BECOMES A 
NATIONAL PROBLEM 

So many new adjustments had to be made at the 
beginning of the war that every home was touched and 
every heart was troubled. Moreover, there was a panicky 
feeling that, somehow, the United States might be drawn 
into the maelstrom. The people of this country were 
for peace. They had been taught for a generation that 
they had seen the last of war, and when the great conflict 
came the American public schools were teaching the 
children that war was sin. Therefore, even the very 
thought of war was exceedingly disconcerting. 

President Wilson's determination to keep this country 
neutral and to nourish and cherish America first had a 
good effect, and the people sincerely hoped that his 
prophecies were true and that the war ' ' would not affect 
the United States unfavorably in the long run." How- 
ever, there was a militaristic party of considerable size 
and influence in the nation, and its members took a 
different view of the matter. They argued that Amer- 
ica's safety and the rights of neutrals everywhere were 
jeopardized and they began to clamor loudly for mili- 

352 



M1L1TAKV I'KKI'AKKDXKSS 353 

tary preparedness. But Mr. Wilson's reply to them 
was, "There is no reason to fear that from any quarter 
our independence or the integrity of our territory is 
threatened. 

Within a short time after the beginning of the war 
two very distinct parties appeared in America: (1) 
those who desired peace at any price save the loss of 
honor, and they believed that it could be secured with 
the right leadership; (2) those who believed that our 
relations with Europe were such that we were certain 
to be involved in the war. Therefore, this nation should 
arise and arm to the teeth. 

The President believed with the first party that peace 
could be maintained with honor ; but since he was the 
leader, he felt that the final test would depend upon 
the American people themselves. Hence, "America 
First" as the watchword of the hour, and he exhorted 
the people not to add in any way to the excitement in 
the world. 

The adherents to the other party, however, were not 
so easily convinced. They saw with growing alarm the 
new modes of warfare employed in the European conflict. 
They saw that old methods were becoming obsolete, and 
that new engines and new machinery were revolutionizing 
warfare. They then began to make hurried investiga- 
tions into the nature of our defenses, and reported that 
our army was small ; our navy weak, and our coast de- 
fenses, inadequate; and they proclaimed the news and 



354 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

their fears so loudly that there appeared, for the time, 
to be only one voice in the nation, and that one was for 
immediate military preparedness. 

However, there were many replies to the extravagant 
assertions of the extreme advocates of preparedness. 
Their findings as to the condition of our defenses were 
vigorously assailed, and their arguments that this nation 
could not avoid the European entanglements were 
ridiculed. 

Therefore, on December 7, 1914, when the short ses- 
sion of Congress convened after a brief vacation, one 
of the most perplexing questions that the President had 
to face and one, as he said in his message to Congress, 
* ' that goes deeper into the principles of our national life 
and policy," was that of strengthening our national 
defenses. 

"It cannot be discussed," he continued, "with- 
out first answering some very searching ques- 
tions. It is said in some quarters that we are 
not prepared for war. What is meant by being 
prepared? Is it meant that we are not ready 
upon brief notice to put a nation in the field, 
a nation of men trained to arms? Of course we 
are not ready to do that; and we shall never be 
in time of peace so long as we retain our present 
political principles and institutions. And what 



MILITARY PREPAREDNESS 355 

is it that it is suggested we should be prepared 
to do? To defend ourselves against attack? We 
have always found means to do that, and shall 
find them whenever it is necessary without calling 
our people away from their necessary tasks to 
render compulsory military service in times of 
peace." 

He then touched on a subject that found a ready re- 
sponse in the hearts of a great majority of the people — 
that there was really no need to fear that America 
would become entangled in the war. And he gave his 
reasons for making this assurance. 

"We are at peace with all the world," he said. 
"No one who speaks counsel based on fact or 
drawn from a just and candid interpretation of 
realities can say that there is reason to fear 
that from any quarter our independence or the 
integrity of our territory is threatened. Dread 
of the power of any other nation we are incap- 
able of. We are not jealous of rivalry in the 
fields of commerce or of any other peaceful 
achievement. We mean to live our own lives as 
we will; but we mean also to let live. We are, 
indeed, a true friend to all the nations of the 
world, because we threaten none, covet the pos- 



35G WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

sessions of none, desire the overthrow of none. 
Our friendship can be accepted and is accepted 
without reservation, because it is offered in a 
spirit and for a purpose which no one need ever 
question or suspect. Therein lies our greatness. 
"We are the champions of peace and of con- 
cord. And we should be very jealous of this 
distinction which we have sought to earn. Just 
now we should be particularly jealous of it, 
because it is our dearest present hope that this 
character and reputation may presently, in God's 
providence, bring us an opportunity such as has 
seldom been vouchsafed any nation, the oppor- 
tunity to counsel and obtain peace in the world 
and reconciliation and a healing settlement of 
many a matter that has cooled and interrupted 
the friendship of nations. This is the time above 
all others when w r e should wish and resolve to 
keep our strength by self-possession, our influ- 
ence by preserving our ancient principles of 
action." 

These utterances were in complete accord with the 
policies that he outlined at the beginning of the war, 
to place America first in the hearts of the people, to 
live our own lives as we will, and to hold the warring 



MILITARY PREPAREDNESS 357 

nations to some standard that would pass the judgment 
of the world at tin 1 close of the war. 

The militaristic party had a tendency to sneer at this 
"future judgment." It was believed that a large stand- 
ing army was the only thing that would keep the bel- 
ligerents in awe. However, the President replied, "we 
never have had, and while we retain our present prin- 
ciples and ideals we never shall have, a large standing 
army. . . . "We shall not turn America into a 
military camp. AVe will not ask our young men to 
spend the best years of their lives making soldiers of 
themselves." 

On the other hand he recognized that it was neces- 
sary to take precaution "against the spread of the con- 
flagration." There is always, even in times of peace, 
some danger from without to a nation, and while half 
the world was in a state of war the danger was increased. 
Therefore, it was necessary, he argued, for America to 
examine its defenses very carefully, and to make such 
preparation as the experts deemed wise under the 
circumstances. 

"We must depend in every time of national 
peril," he said, "in the future as in the past, not 
upon a standing army, nor yet upon a reserve 
army, but upon a citizenry trained and accus- 
tomed to arms. It will be right enough, right 
American policy, based upon our accustomed 



358 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

principles and practices, to provide a system by 
-which every citizen who will volunteer for the 
training may be made familiar with the use of 
modern arms, the rudiments of drill and man- 
euver, and the maintenance and sanitation of 
camps. We should encourage such training and 
make it a means of discipline which our young 
men will learn to value. It is right that we 
should provide it not only, but that we should 
make it as attractive as possible, and so induce 
our young men to undergo it at such times as they 
can command a little freedom and can seek the 
physical development they need, for mere health's 
sake, if for nothing more. Every means by which 
such things can be stimulated is legitimate, and 
such a method smacks of true American ideas. It 
is right, too, that the National Guard of the 
States should be developed and strengthened by 
every means which is not inconsistent with our 
obligations to our own people or with the estab- 
lished policy of our Government." 

The President, then, turned his attention to the 
navy and its needs. "A powerful navy we have 
always regarded as our natural means of de- 
fense," he said; "and it has always been of 
defense that we have thought, never of aggres- 



MILITARY PREPAREDNESS 359 

sion or of conquest. But who shall toll us now 
what sort of navy to build? We shall take leave 
to be strong upon the seas, in the future as in 
the past; and there will be no thought of offense 
or of provocation in that. Our ships are our 
natural bulwarks. When will the experts tell us 
what kind we should construct — and when mil 
they be right for ten years together, if the rela- 
tive efficiency of craft of different kinds and uses 
continues to change as we have seen it change 
under our very eyes in these last few months?" 
The nation was headed into a strange sea, and 
few indeed could say just what this country 
needed. "But," said Mr. AVilson, "we shall not 
alter our attitude toward it because some amongst 
us are nervous and excited." And then lie 
assured the people of America that we must agree 
upon a permanent policy of defense, not a sudden 
and temporary thing simply because the times are 
not normal, but upon a policy which "will not be 
for an occasion." And then he endeavored to 
assure both pacifists and militarists that "we are 
not unmindful of the great responsibility resting 
upon us. We shall learn and profit by the lesson 
of every experience and every new circumstance; 
and what is needed will be adequately done." 



360 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

In a great democratic nation, all the people set to 
work to solve its perplexing problems. So many minds, 
so many opinions ; and the greater the issue the louder 
are the popular debates, and the more difficult it is to 
reach a common basis for unity of action. The next 
morning after the President delivered this address, the 
American people began immediately to answer all the 
questions that had been referred to experts. Pacifists 
and militarists, alike, were for protection, but their 
ideas as to the best means were as far apart as the poles. 
Many looked upon our present state of unpreparedness 
as a death warrant for thousands of our citizens and 
as a pretext for other nations to offer insult after insult 
to our nation. Even Light Horse Harry Lee, of Revolu- 
tionary fame, was quoted: "A government is the 
murderer of its own citizens, which sends them to the 
fields uninformed and untaught, where they are to meet 
men of the same age and strength mechanized by educa- 
tion and disciplined by battle." On the other hand the 
pacifists were divided into two large camps — one was 
in favor of a certain degree of preparedness and claimed 
that we had already reached nearly that degree, while 
others looked upon preparedness and war as about the 
same thing, or read in preparedness all "the horrors of 
war. ' ' 

President Wilson had succeeded in carrying the issue 
to the people, and a great democratic body was arguing 
technical questions with the fervor of old theological 



MILITARY PREPAREDNESS nfil 

debaters. However, a group of serious experts were 
quietly working away at the task and preparing to bring 
before the 64th Congress a concrete plan for the strength- 
ening of our national defenses. 

The Presidenl might argue that national defense was 
only for safety, that "we are the champions of peace 
and of concord," and that our opportunity had conic "to 
counsel and obtain peace in the world." The pacifists 
knew that battleships were built for war, and standing 
armies were created to fight. Moreover, a popular as- 
sembly even of militarists must first agree on some plan 
before it could be acted upon. Therefore, any measure, 
in a popular assembly of pacifists and militarists, each 
of whom had different notions as to how peace could be 
maintained or how adequate preparedness could be pro- 
vided for, had a long and slow journey ahead of it. 
But the President's ideas on the subject were before 
the nation, and each citizen was asking himself and his 
neighbor as well the questions that the President asked 
at the beginning of his address: "What is meant by 
preparedness?" And "What is it that it is suggested 
we should be prepared to do.'" And the answers every- 
where seemed to be, "Yes, what?" 

The press of the nation helped the debate along. 
Although the President's specific plan for a national 
defense was criticised in many quarters, his general pur- 
pose, it was declared, "seems to accord with the mature 
sentiment of the country." The European war was 



362 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

affecting the nerves of the American people, and the 
press of the country began calling for a statement of 
our actual preparedness. 

The Secretary of War, Mr. Garrison, reported that 
the regular army embraced 92,000 men and officers, and 
that only about one-third of that number, or about 31,000 
constituted the real righting strength of the army, in 
movable forces. The remainder, or about 61,000 men 
and officers, were placed in quarter-master and hospital 
corps, in non-combatant administrative and executive 
boards, and in the Philippines, Hawaii, Panama, China, 
Alaska, and Porto Rico. This information had a double 
effect — (1) the people were astonished that American 
soldiers were quartered in so many corners of the globe, 
and (2) they were surprised to learn that we had so 
few soldiers ready for actual service. 

The Secretary of the Navy called attention to the 
Report of the General Board of the Navy Department 
submitted by Admiral Dewey. It showed that there was 
an actual shortage of 4,565 men to man adequately all 
the vessels even then serviceable for war, and that 
the fighting strength of the navy was greatly inferior 
to that of England and second to that of Germany. The 
63rd Congress came to a close on March 4, 1915, without 
considering the much debated question of adequate 
national defense. The President had no definite plan 
ready for consideration and the ardent advocates of 
preparedness could reach no agreement. 



MILITARY PREPAREDNESS 363 

However, in the early spring of 1915 scarcely a day 
passed without bringing a story of some indignity to 
American citizens or some insult to the American flag. 
Vessels were seized by England ; goods were confiscated ; 
and American commerce was in distress. Moreover, 
American vessels were caught in the German submarine 
war zone, and stories of the destruction of commerce and 
the murder of American citizens struck terror to the 
pacifists and aroused the fighting instinct of the 
militarists. 

Finally, on May 7, came the great tragedy of the war, 
the sinking of the Lusitania. Such a crime against 
humanity by a civilized nation had been unthinkable. 
But now it was felt, and the feelings were tumultuous 
and dangerous. National preparedness, up to that time, 
had been largely an academic question. But now. the 
nation was mad. Amid all the clamor and confusion 
of bluster and alarms, the one man who had asked Con- 
gress to consider a permanent policy for the defenses of 
the nation, was the least disturbed outwardly, and the 
best fitted apparently to guide the nation in the crisis. 
Military preparedness had now become a real issue. 

The months of May and June were crowded with 
events of direful forebodings. The National Security 
League, which was organized December 1, 1914, to 
"arouse the public to a realization of our national pre- 
paredness," held a nation-wide conference, June 14 and 
15, which over 10,000 delegates attended. The press 



364 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

was full of the speeches of this conference when Mr. 
Bryan resigned from the cabinet; then the possibility 
of war and the state of our national defenses both 
rushed to the front pages of the newspapers. Germany's 
explanation of the sinking of the Lusitania was unsatis- 
factory; and the metropolitan newspapers were issuing 
extras and calling the nation to arms. 

A hundred years ago when the nations of Europe were 
fighting for existence and American commerce was being 
ruthlessly destroyed by the warring powers, the people 
of the United States were so indignant that they could 
hardly wait even for the Administration to declare war. 
It was then recognized that our state of preparedness 
was so poor, that this knowledge in itself made the war 
spirit in America increase tremendously. The people of 
the nation, while Congress was debating, made generous 
subscriptions, built ships of war, armed them them- 
selves, and actually loaned them to the government. All 
the large cities from Boston to Charleston made large 
donations. The women made flags and worked banners 
while the American people everywhere were drinking 
toasts to the "rising American navy." The clamor for 
preparedness and a realization of our poor defense a 
hundred years ago swept thousands of civilians into a 
war party, it was argued, who doubtless would have 
remained undisturbed if the nation had been strong and 
vigorous enough to meet the exigencies of war on the 
high seas. 



MILITARY PREPAREDNESS 365 

In the summer and fall of 1915, history was repeating 
itself. The agitators for a great navy and army were 
so vociferous that what they larked in numbers they 
made up in sound, and the extremists so muddled the 
matter that no one program was proposed having behind 
it the sanction of a large part of the country. It was 
recognized soon after the outbreak of the war that a 
greal revolution had taken place in military ami naval 
warfare, and men naturally began to question the effi- 
ciency of both our army and our navy. But, now, gener- 
alities would not satisfy, numerical comparisons were 
not convincing. The people were demanding detailed 
information. 

The army experts were put to work studying our land 
defenses. But America had little to fear then from an 
invasion. The immediate necessity was for an adequate 
navy ; and, everywhere the people seemed to feel keenly 
this need. However, the President had asked, "who 
shall tell us now what sort of navy to build?" . 
'" When will the experts tell us just what kind (of ships) 
we should construct ?" The submarine warfare had 
made the future uncertain. Therefore, Mr. Daniels, the 
Secretary of the Navy, acting on the suggestion of the 
President, organized a Naval Advisory Board composed 
of a number of scientists for the purpose of making 
available the latent inventive genius of the country to 
improve the navy. Mr. Thomas A. Edison was asked 
to accept the chairmanship of Ihis new board and eleven 



366 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

engineering and scientific societies were requested to 
select two members each to represent their respective 
societies on the Board. 

The members of the Naval Advisory Board met in 
Washington October 6, and after organizing called on 
the President in a body. Mr. Wilson had said in his 
address to Congress on December 7, that ' ' we shall learn 
and profit by the lesson of every experience and every 
new circumstance." 

The experience of all neutral nations during the spring 
and summer of 1915 had been so shocking, and the cir- 
cumstances at that time were so critical, that when this 
Board appeared before him, Mr. Wilson showed very 
clearly that he believed the time had come "to defend 
the life of this nation against any sort of interference." 

"I think the whole nation is convinced," lie 
said to the Board, "that we ought to be prepared, 
not for war but for defense, and very adequately 
prepared, and that the preparation for defense is 
not merely a technical matter, that it is not a 
matter that the army and navy alone can take 
care of, but a matter in which we must have the 
cooperation of the best brains and knowledge of 
the country, outside the official service of the Gov- 
ernment as well as inside." 

And he assured the members that he was seeking the 



MILITARY PREPAREDNESS 367 

best expert advice. It was two months before the 64th 
Congress would assemble and he personally desired all 
the light possible. 

"I want you to feel," he said, "those of you 
who are coming- to the assistance of the profes- 
sional officers of the Government, that we have 
not asked you to associate yourselves with us 
except for a very definite and practical purpose — 
to get you to give us your best independent judg- 
ments as to how we ought to make ready for any 
duty that may fall upon the nation." 

The nation was really aroused over the question. The 
World's Work in November published the result of "a 
poll of 261 newspapers in all parts of the United States 
and of all complexions politically, on the need 
for strengthening the national defense." Only six of 
this number "showed any doubt of a need for stronger 
national defense." Therefore, the Editor concluded, "if 
the newspapers accurately reflect public opinion, the 
people of the United States are practically unanimous in 
their wish for improvement of the national defenses." 
However, there was such a difference of opinion as to 
means and methods for reaching the prepared state that 
"a statistical comparison of views thus became absurd." 

Although President Wilson referred to a preparedness 



368 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDFA'T 

plan several times during the summer and fall, he did 
not enter into a thorough discussion of it again until just 
a month before the opening of the 64th Congress. It 
had already become very evident to his more intimate 
advisers that not only the task of preserving neutrality 
and the fundamentals of international law but the dan- 
gers which were constantly increasing, were changing his 
views on preparedness or modifying them very greatly. 
This made him the target for the many who differed from 
him both in his own party and in the opposing party. 
For military preparedness was no longer a party ques- 
tion. 

However, he faced the issue, fortified by his matured 
convictions and did not falter in the least because it dif- 
fered somewhat from his earlier utterances. "The 
statesman," he had said, "stands in the midst of life to 
interpret life in political action. ' ' A man ' ' may distrust 
his own intellectual processes but if he finds his heart 
part of the great throb of a national life, there can be 
no doubt about it. If that is his happy circumstance, 
then he may know that he is a part of one of the great 
forces of the world." 

When his first address on preparedness was delivered 
there were too many conflicting opinions in the nation 
and the occasion was so close to the beginning of the 
war when few men indeed had given the subject enough 
calm judgment to reach a safe conclusion. And Mr. 
Wilson, the statesman, stood in the midst of that surging 



MILITARY PREPAREDNESS 369 

life which was impossible of interpretation, save that the 
people wished to have nothing to do with war. 

A year later, however, experts were ready with definite 

information about the state of our defenses. The Euro- 
pean war had diminished the value of the latest inven- 
tions, and new methods of warfare had shown the weak- 
ness of the old defenses. Moreover, the conduct of the 
belligerents and the menacing; Mexican revolution 
brought into clearer light the dangers that threatened 
from without. And the President was ready to act, for 
he was now unmistakably aware that his heart was "a 
part of the great throb of a national life." 

On November 6 he was the guest of the Manhattan 
Club of New York, and he took this occasion to announce 
to the American people that the time had arrived when 
it was necessary to prepare "ourselves to vindicate our 
right to independent and unmolested action by making 
the force that is in us all ready for assertion." However. 
as he argued for immediate adequate preparedness, he 
was painstaking in his efforts to reassure all men that 
"the mission of America in the world is essentially a 
mission of peace and good will, "but thai the time had 
come "to make sure of our own security." 

Ho then declared thai "we do want to feel that 

there La a great body of citizens who have received 
at least the most rudimentary and necessary 
forms of military training; that they will be 



370 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

ready to form themselves into a fighting force 
at the call of the nation; and that the nation 
has the munitions and supplies with which to 
equip them without delay should it be necessary 
to call them into action. We wish to supply them 
with the training they need, and we think we can 
do so without calling them at any time too long 
away from their civilian pursuits." 

And he advised the nation that he was com- 
pleting his plans "which it will be my privilege 
to lay before the Congress at the next session." 
And that plan, he said, "calls for only such an 
increase in the regular army of the United States 
as experience has proved to be required for the 
performance of the necessary duties of the army 
in the Philippines, in Hawaii, in Porto Rico, upon 
the borders of the United States, at the coast 
fortifications, and at the military posts of the 
interior. ' ' 

"For the rest," he said, "it calls for the train- 
ing within the next three years of a force of 
400,000 citizen soldiers to be raised in annual con- 
tingents of 133,000, who would be asked to enlist 
for three years with the colors and three years 
on furlough, but who during their three years 
of enlistment with the colors would not be organ- 



MILITARY PREPAREDNESS 371 

ized as a standing force but would be expected 
merely to undergo intensive training for a very 
brief period of each year. Their training would 
take place in immediate association with the 
organized units of the regular army. It would 
have no touch of the amateur about it, neither 
would it exact of the volunteers more than they 
could give in any one year from their civilian 
pursuits." 

After outlining his plan for improving the array, he 
spoke of the needs of the navy. The experts had been at 
work and they were able now to give him a partial 
answer to the question that he asked nearly a year before. 
And his remarks on the state of the navy brought some 
relief to the pacifists, but quick condemnation from many 
militarists. 

"It has been the American policy time out of 
mind," he said, "to look to the navy as the first 
and chief line of defense. The navy of the United 
States is already a very great and efficient force. 
Not rapidly, but slowly, with careful attention, 
our naval force has been developed until the aavy 
of the United States stands recognized as one 
of the most efficient and notable of modern time. 

"All that is needed to bring it to a point of 



372 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

extraordinary force and efficiency as compared 
with the other navies of the world is that we 
should hasten our pace in the policy we have long 
been pursuing, and that chief of all we should 
have a definite policy of development, not made 
from year to year, but looking well into the future 
and planning for a definite consummation. 

"We can and should profit in all that we do 
by the experience and example that have been 
obvious to us by the military and naval events of 
the actual present. It is not merely a matter of 
building battleships and cruisers and submarines, 
but also a matter of making sure that we shall 
have the adequate equipment of men and muni- 
tions and supplies for the vessels we build and 
intend to build. ' y 

In closing this very notable address, he declared it to 
be his purpose to call for "the hearty support of the 
country, of the rank and file of America, of men of all 
shades of political opinion," for he said, "we are dealing 
with things that are vital to the life of America itself." 

He was now speaking to the American people, not to 
Congress. He was talking as the executive of the nation 
to a free people who were deeply concerned over the 
matter. Many of his closest friends who agreed with his 
first utterances on the question of national defense and 



MILITARY PREPAREDNESS 373 

applauded him, now disagreed with him and denounced 
him. However, new circumstances had arises and he 

was rising to meet the new demands incident to these 
changed conditions. 

He was speaking as the head of the nation and 
in a spirit of the finest patriotism when he asked 
the people to answer if his plan was ''sane and 
reasonable and suited to the hour." "Does it 
conform," he asked, "to the ancient traditions of 
America! Has any better plan been proposed 
than this program that we place before the 
country!" And then he assured the country 
that although the plan he favored "represents the 
best professional and expert judgment of the 
country," if a better plan can be proposed, he 
desired its adoption. But "if men differ with 
me in this vital matter, I shall ask them to make 
it clear how far and in what way they are inter- 
ested in making the permanent interests of the 
country safe against disturbances." 

This address created tremendous interest throughout 
the country. The peace party was wildly excited and the 
President was accused of abandoning the position he had 
so firmly taken at the beginning of the war. The mili- 
tarists for the most part were delighted, for they saw the 



374 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

President taking the stand they had urged him to take 
from the first. But now more than ever before the 
issue was before the public ; and clubs, debating societies, 
old men and young men, the press and law-making bodies 
throughout the nation renewed their arguments. 

One characteristic of the American people is their 
ardent desire for an argument. Every great policy that 
the President directed through Congress was argued first 
by the people even before Congress had received it in the 
shape of a bill, and the people seem to settle it, somehow, 
the way Congress settles it ; but frequently settle it 
first. Therefore, before Congress assembled on the 6th 
of December, the press throughout the country had pre- 
sented the issue to the people, and the people began call- 
ing on Senators and Members to give their views, even 
before the delegates arrived in Washington. 

When the 64th Congress assembled, the Secretary of 
War and the Secretary of the Navy had heard from their 
experts, and they had compiled their reports on the con- 
dition of the Army and the Navy. Their recommenda- 
tions were embodied in these reports, which had been 
forecasted by the President in his address before the 
Manhattan Club. In speaking to Congress of the recom- 
mendations of the Secretary of War, he said : 

"They contemplate an increase of the standing 
force of the regular army from its present 
strength of 5,023 officers and 102,985 enlisted 



MILITARY PREPAREDNESS 375 

men of all services to a strength of 7,136 officers 
and 134,707 enlisted men, or 141,843 all told, all 
services, rank, and file by the addition of fifty-two 
companies of coast artillery, fifteen companies of 
engineers, ten regiments of infantry, four regi- 
ments of field artillery, and four aero-squadrons, 
besides 750 officers required for a great variety 
of extra service, especially the all-important duty 
of training the citizen force of which I shall pres- 
ently speak, 792 non-commissioned officers for 
service in drill, recruiting, and the like, and the 
necessary quota of enlisted men for the Quarter- 
master Corps, the Hospital Corps, the Ordinance 
Department, and other similar auxiliary services. 
These are the additions necessary to render the 
army adequate for its present duties, duties which 
it has to perform not only upon our own conti- 
nental coasts and borders and at our interior 
army posts, but also in the Philippines, in the 
Hawaiian Islands, at the Isthmus, and in Porto 
Rico." 

lie next recommended the plan, agreed upon by the 
Secretary of War and outlined in his Manhattan Club 
speech, to provide for training a force of 400,000 dis- 
ciplined citizens. There was to be no compulsory mili- 
tary training; but he said: 



376 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

"It would depend upon the patriotic feeling of 
the younger men of the country whether they 
respond to such a call to service or not. It would 
depend upon the patriotic spirit of the employers 
of the country whether they make it possible for 
the younger men in their employment to respond 
under favorable conditions or not. ' ' 

When he came to the needs of the Navy Department, 
he went more into details than ever before. Referring 
to the report of the Secretary of the Navy, he said : 

"The program which will be laid before you by 
the Secretary of the Navy is similarly conceived. 
It involves only a shortening of the time within 
which plans long matured shall be carried out; 
but it does make definite and explicit a program 
which has heretofore been only implicit, held in 
the minds of the Committees on Naval Affairs 
and disclosed in the debates of the two Houses, 
but nowhere formulated or formally adopted. It 
seems to me very clear that it will be to the 
advantage of the country for Congress to adopt a 
comprehensive plan for putting the navy upon a 
final footing of strength and efficiency, and to press 
that plan to completion within the next five years." 



MILITARY PREPAREDNESS 377 

He then gave the nation a definite program which the 
Navy Department recommended and which he was en- 
dorsing and commending to the consideration of Con- 
gress. 

"The program to bo laid before you," he said, 
"contemplates the construction within five years 
of ten battleships, six battle cruisers, ten scout 
cruisers, fifty destroyers, fifteen fleet submarines, 
eighty-five coast submarines, four gunboats, one 
hospital ship, two ammunition ships, two fuel oil 
ships, and one repair ship. It is proposed that 
of this number we shall the first year provide 
for the construction of two battleships, two battle 
cruisers, three scout cruisers, fifteen destroyers, 
five fleet submarines, twenty-five coast subma- 
rines, two gunboats, and one hospital ship; the 
second year, two battleships, one scout cruiser, 
ten destroyers, four fleet submarines, fifteen coast 
submarines, one gunboat, and one fuel oil ship; 
the third year, two battleships, one battle cruiser, 
two scout cruisers, five destroyers, two fleet sub- 
marines, and fifteen coast submarines; the fourth 
year, two battleships, two battle cruisers, two 
scout cruisers, ten destroyers, two fleet subma- 
rines, fifteen coast submarines, one ammunition 



378 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

ship, and one fuel oil ship ; and the fifth year, two 
battleships, one battle cruiser, two scout cruisers, 
ten destroyers, two fleet submarines, fifteen coast 
submarines, one gunboat, one ammunition ship, 
and one repair ship. 

"The Secretary of the Navy is asking also 
for the immediate addition to the personnel of 
the Navy of 7,500 sailors, 2,500 apprentice sea- 
men, and 1,500 marines. This increase would be 
sufficient to care for the ships which are to be 
completed within the fiscal year 1917, and also for 
the number of men which must be put in training 
to man the ships which will be completed early 
in 1918. It is also necessary that the number of 
midshijnnen at the Naval Academy at Annapolis 
should be increased by at least 300 in order that 
the force of officers should be more rapidly added 
to; and authority is asked to appoint, for en- 
gineering duties only, approved graduates of 
engineering colleges, and for service in the Avia- 
tion Corps a certain number of men taken from 
civil life. 

"If this full program should be carried out 
we should have built or building in 1921, accord- 
ing to the estimates of survival and standards of 
classification followed by the General Board of 



MILITARY rilEPAREDNESS 379 

the Department, an effective navy consisting of 
twenty-seven battleships of the first line, six 
battle cruisers, twenty-five battleships of the 
second line, ten armored cruisers, thirteen scout 
cruisers, five first-class cruisers, three second-class 
cruisers, ten third-class cruisers, 108 destroyers, 
eighteen fleet submarines, 157 coast submarines, 
six monitors, twenty gunboats, four supply ships, 
fifteen fuel ships, four transports, three tenders to 
torpedo vessels, eight vessels of special types, and 
two ammunition ships. This would be a navy fitted 
to our needs and worthy of our traditions." 

This much discussed question was at last in shape for 
official consideration. On the morning before President 
Wilson laid this important program before Congress, 
the New York World published the views of prominent 
men of the nation without regard to special occupations 
or political parties. The two ex-presidents, governors, 
college presidents, captains of industry, men of interna- 
tional reputation as lawyers and scientists, presented a 
unanimity of views that was remarkable. All agreed 
that "preparedness" is the prominent issue today, and 
that it is in no sense a party measure. Many disagreed 
with the President as to details, but almost without 
exception the voice was one — we should be prepared for 
emergencies. 



380 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

Although there was much disagreement over the details 
of the President's plan, no one with any respectable fol- 
lowing had come forward with a better plan ; and in the 
midst of this babel of words the conservative press of the 
country was urging Congress to accept the President's 
plans as they were, since it was the one recommendation 
on which there was the most agreement. Not in years 
had there been more confusion over a great national 
question. 

The House and Senate committees, much affected by 
the situation, were very cautious in making provisions 
for a budget sufficient to provide the means of safe- 
guarding the nation, or of providing additional reve- 
nue. How much money would be required? How was 
the extra cost to be raised ? And a considerable number 
of Representatives took the position that no bill for rais- 
ing revenue to provide for the additional expense should 
be framed until the naval and military committees had 
reported their national defense measures. But others 
contended that the naval and military committees should 
not report bills for national defense until the Ways and 
Means Committee had prepared a plan for raising 
revenue. 

It was quite evident that if the national defenses were 
strengthened, Congress must provide additional revenue. 
The President suggested that "we should be following 
an almost universal example of modern government if 
we were to draw the greater part or even the whole of 



MILITARY PREPAREDNESS 381 

the revenue we need from the income tax.'' lie also 
pointed to "many additional sources of revenue which 
can justly be resorted to." However, he left that prob- 
lem with the Ways and Means Committee but advised 
them "that the industry of this generation should pay 
the bills of this generation." 

President Wilson believed strongly in a public con- 
science and a public passion. And in all of liis acts he 
seemed to be seeking earnestly to interpret that con- 
science and understand that passion. 

"I am not put here to do what I please,'' he 
said, "I am put here to interpret, to register, 
to suggest, and, more than that, and much greater 
than that, to be suggested to." He admitted that 
1 ' in domestic matters I think I can in most cases 
come pretty near a guess where the thought of 
America is going to be, but in foreign affairs the 
chief element is where action is going on in other 
quarters of the world and not where thought is 
going on in the United States." 

In all of his leading policies, therefore, he first sought 
to interpret the spirit of America. lie knew that spirit, 
was for peace, and this accorded with his own thought 
and feelings. He knew also that that spirit was for an 
adequate preparedness in order that America might not 
be molested in the enjoyment of its own rights and privi- 



382 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

leges. And this national spirit accorded also with his 
own thoughts and feelings, for altered circumstances due 
to unusual conditions in Europe, had compelled the 
American spirit to take this direction. Therefore, he 
entered into the campaign for adequate preparedness 
with all the zeal of a crusader. 

When the new year (1916) opened, military prepared- 
ness was the paramount issue and it was demanding a 
hearing before all others. Mr. Wilson had only to sit and 
listen in order to hear the voice and to feel the heart 
vibrations. A large number of organizations were con- 
ducting campaigns all over the country to focus atten- 
tion on national defense issues. Among these were the 
Grand Army of the Republic, Daughters of the American 
Revolution, Sons of the American Revolution, United 
Confederate Veterans, Daughters of the Confederacy, 
Spanish War Veterans, the Navy League of the United 
States, and the recently organized Women's Section of 
the Navy League. The American Defense Society began 
publishing a magazine in which President Wilson 's fight 
for preparedness was strongly endorsed, and the newly 
organized Committee on Industrial Relations announced 
that it was preparing to conduct a vigorous campaign in 
the interest of national defense. 

However, these various leagues, associations and socie- 
ties were not altogether in harmony with the program 
suggested by the President or any particular program, 
and much of the public discussions were for the purpose, 



MILITARY PREPAREDNESS 383 

it seemed, of furthering the private ideas of particular 
individuals or societies. Still no one with any respectable 
following had made any better beginning toward 
strengthening our land and sea forces than was set forth 
in the President's plans. And the public voice, constantly 
increasing in volume, was urging Congress to act on the 
President 's recommendations. 

The members of Congress showed a willingness to pass 
measures of defense if a common agreement could be 
reached as to what measures to pass. But the advocates 
of a much larger army and a much larger navy than the 
Ad mi nistration bills provided for seemed to muddle the 
matter, without in the least strengthening their own posi- 
t i<ni. They talked about compulsory service and uni- 
versal training, and they fretted and fussed and wasted 
valuable time discussing measures which could not be put 
into effect for many years. 

The nation was harassed by outrages in Mexico and by 
violations of rights of neutrals on the high seas, and 
scarcely a day passed without its special warning of the 
dangers we were incurring. Yet, strange to say, men of 
prominence in the nation, who were speaking vociferously 
against the President's program, joined in the cry for 
war with Mexico and war with Germany or England if 
our rights were not guaranteed absolutely, ami without 
delay. 

At the beginning of the New Year, however, the issue 
had become more hopeful, since it was becoming quite 



384 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

clear that the great fight would not be along strictly 
party lines, but would be between preparedness en- 
thusiasts and pacifist enthusiasts, whatever the real 
motives of each might be. Many in both camps were 
accused of thinking more of political advantage than of 
national honor, while the large majority of the people 
were earnest in their deep desire for effective national 
preparedness. 

Since the party in power, however, lacked as a 
rule "articulate expression of a sufficiently forcible 
character to stimulate the national legislators to action" 
the burden of inspiring the public "to an unmistakable 
utterance of its will in the matter" was placed upon the 
President. His large personal popularity, together with 
his eloquence and logic, was employed to induce the 
people to overcome the apathetic indifference, the unrea- 
sonable hostility, and the selfish partisanship exhibited 
in Congress, in order that the matter of our national 
defenses might be settled as soon as possible. 

The President, therefore, decided to take the issue to 
the people. More than once in his fight for the New 
Freedom, did he threaten to take the issue of the moment 
to the people. But, somehow, Congress acted in time to 
the satisfaction of the nation. But now there was too 
much confusion, too many discordant voices, and this 
was Mr. Wilson's method of clarifying the atmosphere. 



CHAPTER XVII 

THE PRESIDENT TAKES THE ISSUE TO THE 
PEOPLE 

It was on January 27, 1916, that Mr. "Wilson left the 
"White House to tell the people of the East and the West 
of the confusion in "Washington and the pressing need of 
the hour. The first stop in his itinerary was New York. 
Everybody who wishes to be heard in America, sooner or 
later, goes to New York. That city is so vocal, perhaps, 
because it is so provincial. Anyway, New York was the 
President's first point of attack, since it was virtually the 
home of every society that was working for or against 
the President's program. 

There, he made four speeches, to business men who 
were for preparedness; to ministers of the gospel who 
were for peace ; to motion picture men, who were neutral ; 
and to suffragists, who wanted to hear the President. But 
neither the fraternity, the occupation, nor the politics 
of the occasion affected his subject. To each group he 
gave a part of his great theme with sufficient variations 
to make it applicable to the occasion. And the next day 
the people of the far "West who were already making 
preparations for his coming read the first installment of 

385 



386 WOODROW ^YILSON AS PRESIDENT 

his continued story and became enthusiastic to hear the 
concluding chapters. 

He did not hesitate to tell the people that this nation 
was in great danger. This was his theme in New York, 
and he did not depart from it as he journeyed westward. 
And the corollary to this main theme was patriotism. In 
fact he was seeking always to reach that center in the 
heart where patriotism abides in order that it too might 
become vocal. 

After his visit to New York, he returned to Washing- 
ton and made preparations for his western trip. Pitts- 
burgh was his next point. "New circumstances have 
arisen which make it necessary for America to defend 
herself" was the way he opened his campaign in Penn- 
sylvania. But he was in the heart of the steel and iron 
industry where both business and patriotism were in 
sympathy with his program. 

At Cleveland he pictured two-thirds of the world at 
war and defined America 's duty of the hour. ' ' We have 
interests that are being slowly drawn into the maelstrom 
of this tremendous upheaval," he said, and Cleveland's 
reply was for preparedness. 

Leaving Ohio, he drove straight to the center of the 
German- American population. ' ' I know that you depend 
on me to keep this nation out of war" was his greeting 
to Milwaukee. Then he discussed the composite character 
of the American people ; he told the German-Americans 
to love the land of their birth; and he sympathized with 



THE ISSUE TO THE PEOPLE 387 

them over the cloud of suspicion that had rested awhile 
above the fatherland. But when he appealed to them to 
be American citizens first, Milwaukee's response was one 
continuous round of applause, and the Mayor of that city 
remarked, "This is Milwaukee's answer to the world." 

Having touched the heart of the foreign-born popu- 
lation in the great Northwest, he returned by way of 
Chicago. He reminded' the business men of that city 
that our commerce has been interfered with, that 
America 's dangers ' ' come from her contacts with the rest 
of the world" and that we are living in a world on fire 
and "our house is not fireproof." Then, he assured the 
champions of preparedness that "we mean business." 
And Chicago was convinced that it is our duty to prepare 
at once. 

His itinerary next led him across the Mississippi and 
into the great corn states of the West. He asked the citi- 
zens of Iowa who came to hear him at Des Moines if there 
was really much "indifference and lethargy in the Middle 
West with regard to the defense of the nation." He had 
been told so. But he said, " I do not believe it, I am going 
out to see," and he was given an unmistakable and 
unequivocal response when he asked Iowans, "Do you 
wish to have all the world say that the flag of the United 
States which we love can be stained with impunity?" 

Still westward he carried his message until he reached 
the heart of Kansas, where, it was said, the greatest oppo- 
sition to his program would be found. At Topeka, lie 



388 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

told the farmers of this great stock and grain country that 
the world needs the wheat of the Kansas fields and "we 
have a right to supply the rest of the world with the 
product of these fields." He warned the West of the 
dangers to our commerce, and he pointed out the diffi- 
culties this nation must overcome in keeping the lines of 
trade open, and Kansas was full of fight, as the President 
learned when he turned this sentence, "Kansas has made 
trouble for everybody that interfered with her liberty or 
her rights, and if I were to pick out one place which was 
likely to rise first and get hot first about invasion of the 
essential principles of American liberty, I certainly would 
look to Kansas among the first places in the country. ' ' 

At Kansas City, the scene at the close of his address 
was dramatic. Eighteen thousand people, after listening 
attentively to the close, made such a demonstration that 
the President, deeply affected by the uncontrolled 
emotion, stepped to the front and asked the audience if 
he might lead in singing "America," and a tremendous 
chorus, it is said, was raised in behalf of, 

My country, 'tis of thee, 
Sweet land of liberty, 
Of thee I sing. 

The President was now moving eastward again, and 
the last stop in his itinerary was at St. Louis, where he 
spoke twice — once for military preparedness, and once 
for industrial preparedness. His story was completed. 



THE ISSUE TO THE PEOPLE 389 

He had come out for a purpose ; it was accomplished, and 

he reassured himself that this country is not wanting in 
patriotism. lie had made ten speeches in halls and the 
same number from the rear platform of the train. He 
had spoken to approximately 100,000 people and had been 
welcomed by perhaps five times that number. The large 
foreign element came out to hear him and became 
enthusiastic, and the greatest demonstration had been at 
the farthest points West, where, it had been predicted, he 
would have the least sympathy. 

Such was the President's remarkable campaign for 
military preparedness. For a week the press of the 
country kept this one issue before the people, and the 
psychological effect was very great indeed. The nation 
was astir, but a better spirit prevailed. The President 
left the details of the plan to be worked out by Congress, 
and the vocal part of the nation was in general accord 
with the outlines. The patriotism of the nation was 
aroused, and, with a feeling of satisfaction for what had 
been accomplished and a confidence in what Congress 
would do under the steady pressure of the demands from 
the people down home, the President returned to Wash- 
ington to hasten action and await results. 

The effect of the appeal to the people was felt on the 
continent of Europe, and the nations at war pondered 
over his words and took warning. England read in his 
utterances a determination to force the central powers 
to another plane of international morality ; and Germany 



390 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

interpreted his language to mean that the rights of 
Americans to trade in Europe must be respected by the 
Allies. And both parties to the war understood that 
America was determined to be prepared for any emerg- 
ency that might arise. 



CHAPTEB Will 
THE NATION FOR MILITARY PREPAREDNESS 

The nation had been discussing the issue for over 
twelve months, and the grand climax to all the arguments 
and debates was the President's tour of the country. 
But the time had come now to act. It was generally 
agreed that our defenses should be greatly strengthened 
and the efficiency of our military establishment should be 
increased. But the great question was, how? 

The Federal Constitution gave Congress the power to 
raise and support a standing army. Moreover, it was 
empowered to provide for organizing, arming, and dis- 
ciplining the militia and for calling it forth in times of 
need. IIow T ever, there has not been a decade since the 
Constitution was established and since these two re- 
sources for the protection and safety of the nation were 
provided, that this question has not arisen: Shall the 
safety of our land defenses rest finally upon a standing 
army, or upon the militia? In every proposed plan for 
the reorganization of the army or for strengthening our 
defenses, the debate has revolved around this question. 
It was debated when the Federal Constitution was 
adopted. It was argued during the war of 1812. It was 

391 



392 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

a problem when the Monroe Doctrine was promulgated ; 
and in 1836, nearly fifty years after the debate first 
began, the whole argument was stated anew, though in 
a partisan manner, by Edward Everett of Massachusetts : 

"There are two resources," he said, "for protection 
and safety in the first outbreaking of war and in times 
of civil commotion. One is a well-organized, patriotic 
militia, ever present, rarely seen, quartered among us, 
not in camps and forts, but at the fireside, in the counting 
room, the workshop, the place of business. This is one. 
The other resource is a standing army, encamped on 
Boston Common or stationed on Castle Island. One or 
the other we must have. And the man who sets himself 
to ridicule the militia, to exaggerate the defects of the 
system, to embarrass its administration, to bring it into 
discredit, wishes one of two things — he either wishes the 
country to be wholly exposed to insult from abroad, and 
a prey at home to anarchy, to mob law, club law, and a 
general scramble, or he wishes to see a flag staff planted 
in front of the State House, a couple of cannon pointing 
down State Street, to hear the morning gun at daybreak, 
and to hold the exercise of his daily rights as a citizen 
at the discretion of a military commander." 

And he proposed the following toast : 

"A well-organized, efficient, and patriotic militia — in 
time of peace, the bulwark of the law ; in war, the basis 
of defense : May it be restored to the public favor. 

This toast makes it quite evident that Edward Everett 



NATION FOB MILITARY PREPAREDNESS 3«J3 

was afraid of a standing army and the influence of the 
army officer in the nation. After eighty years that 
feeling still abides in the nation. However, the militia 
as a real fighting machine is not held in much esteem by 
those who think most of arms and invasion and defenses, 
a rul it is quite evident that the eighty years have not 
increased the love of the army officer for the militia. The 
campaign for preparedness was renewed in earnest soon 
after the outbreak of the European war. But every 
measure that looked toward meeting the needs of our 
defenses resolved itself sooner or later into the old ques- 
tion, shall the standing army or the militia be the basis 
of our defenses ? 

The continental army plan that was finally presented 
to Congress by Mr. Wilson on December 7 was worked 
out by Mr. Garrison, the Secretary of "War, and the 
army experts. In its purpose to create a continental 
army of 400,000 citizen soldiers under direct national 
control, it favored the Federal Army and minimized the 
importance of the National Guard. However, as soon 
as it was presented to the House, the Committee on 
Military Affairs dissented and the fight began — the old, 
old fight that was more than a century old. 

Mr. Garrison was unalterably opposed to building up 
the National Guard. The Committee on Military Affairs. 
however, was in favor of strengthening the National 
Guard. It was apparent to Mr. Garrison that Congress 
would turn down his recommendations unless President 



394 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

"Wilson "personally exerted the power" of his leadership 
to save them. Therefore, he wrote to the President on 
January 12 and again on the 14th, urging him to "exert" 
himself in behalf of the plan proposed and the one 
that the President had recommended to the Congress. 
Mr. Wilson replied three days later : 

"You believe, as I do, that the chief thing* nec- 
essary is that we should have a trained citizen 
reserve, and that the training, organization and 
control of that reserve should be under immediate 
Federal direction. 

"But apparently I have not succeeded in mak- 
ing my own position equally clear to you, though 
I feel sure that I have made it perfectly clear to 
Mr. Hay (Chairman of the House Committee on 
Military Affairs.) Remember that I am not irre- 
vocably or dogmatically committed to any one 
plan of providing the nation with such a reserve, 
and am certainly willing to discuss alternate pro- 
posals. 

"Any other position on my part," he said, 
"would indicate an attitude toward the Com- 
mittee on Military Affairs of the House of Rep- 
resentatives which I should in no circumstances 
feel at liberty to assume. It would never be 
proper or possible for me to say to any com- 



NATION FOR MILITARY PREPAREDNESS 395 

mittee of the House of Representatives that, so 
far as my participation in legislation was con- 
cerned, they would have to take my plan or none. 

"I do not share your opinion that the members 
of the House who are charged with the duty of 
dealing with military affairs are ignorant of them 
or of the military necessities of the nation. On 
the contrary, I have found them well informed 
and actuated by a most intelligent appreciation of 
the grave responsibilities imposed upon them. I 
am sure that Mr. Hay and his colleagues are 
ready to act with a full sense of all that is 
involved in this great matter, both for the 
country and for the national parties which they 
represent. 

"My own duty toward them is perfectly plain. 
I must welcome a frank interchange of views and 
a patient and thorough comparison of all the 
methods proposed for obtaining the objects we 
all have in view. So far as my participation in 
final legislative action is concerned, no one will 
expect me to acquiesce in any proposal that 
I regard as inadequate or illusory. If, as the 
outcome of a free interchange of view T s, my own 
judgment and that of the committee should prove 
to be irreconcilably different and a bill should be 



396 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

presented to me which I could not accept as 
accomplishing the essential things sought, it 
would manifestly be my duty to veto it and go 
to the country on the merits." 

He stated, furthermore, that he had had "a delight- 
fully frank conference with Mr. Hay" and had said to 
him, "I was perfectly willing to consider any plan that 
would give us a national reserve under unmistakably 
national control, and would support any such scheme 
if convinced of its adequacy and wise policy." More, he 
said Mr. Hay had not asked or desired. 

This letter was not at all satisfactory to the Secretary 
of War. But the President left the capital for a tour 
of the country, and the matter rested for a few days. 
However, in his speeches Mr. Wilson did not come out 
emphatically and unqualifiedly for Mr. Garrison's con- 
tinental plan nor with the emphasis that the Secretary of 
War desired. Therefore, soon after his return, he re- 
ceived a third letter from Mr. Garrison which contained 
these words: "If we are not in agreement upon these 
fundamental principles, then I could not, with propriety 
remain your seeming representative." 

One of these "fundamental principles" was an amend- 
ment to the bill extending further self-government to the 
Philippines. Mr. Wilson replied that he also thought 
that that amendment was unwise. The other "funda- 



NATION FOK MILITARY PREPAREDNESS 397 

mental principle" referred to pertained to the century 
old problem, to which Mr. Wilson replied: 

"As I have had occasion to say to you, I am not 
yet convinced that the measure of preparation for 
national defense which we deem necessary can 
be obtained through the instrumentality of the 
National Guard under Federal control and train- 
ing, but I feel in duty bound to keep my mind 
open to conviction on that side, and think that 
it would be most unwise and unfair to the com- 
mittee of the House which has such a plan in 
mind to say that it cannot be done. The bill 
in which it will be embodied has not yet been 
drawn, as I learned from Mr. Hay today. I 
should deem it a very serious mistake to shut the 
door against this attempt on the part of the com- 
mittee in perfect good faith to meet the essentials 
of the program set forth in my message, but in a 
way of their own choosing. 

"As you know, I do not at all agree with you 
in favoring compulsory enlistment for training, 
and I fear the advocacy of compulsion before the 
committee of the House on the part of the rep- 
resentatives of the Department of War has 
greatly prejudiced the House against the pro- 



398 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

posal for a Continental Army, little necessary 
connection as there is between the plan and the 
opinion of the Chief of Staff in favor of com- 
pulsory enlistment. 

"I owe you this frank repetition of my views 
and policy in this matter, which we have discussed 
on previous occasions in the letters which we 
have exchanged and in conversation. I am very 
much obliged to you for your own frank avowal 
of your convictions. I trust that you will feel 
no hesitation about expressing your personal 
views on both these subjects on the two occasions 
to which you refer, but I hope that you will be 
kind enough to draw very carefully the distinc- 
tion between your own individual views and the 
views of the Administration. 

"You will, of course, understand that I am 
devoting my energy and attention unsparingly in 
conferences with members of the various com- 
mittees of Congress in an effort to procure an 
agreement upon a workable and practicable pro- 
gram. This is a time when it seems to me 
patience on the part of all of us is of the essence 
in bringing about a consummation of the purpose 
we all have in mind." 



NATION FOR MILITARY PREPAREDNESS 399 

This letter was in the nature of a rebuke to the War 
Department because of the activity "on the part of the 
representatives of the War Department" which "lias 
greatly prejudiced the House against the proposal for a 
Continental Army." Moreover, it made it clear to Mr. 
Garrison that the President was not in sympathy with 
many of his views. Therefore, he very promptly sent 
his resignation to the President and it was accepted with 
"sincere regrets." 

The disagreement in the Cabinet was only a part of 
that larger disagreement that was evident everywhere — 
in Congress, on the streets, in public meetings, and in 
the press. 

Army officers were charged with exercising undue in- 
fluence in order "to ruin and destroy the National 
Guard," and it was prophesied that a large standing 
army in the hands "of these Regular Army officers" 
would lead "straight toward the bottomless abyss of 
oblivion, into which every free nation which has pre- 
ceded us disappeared." 

Moreover, every attempt to strengthen the National 
Guard was vigorously assailed. Its advocates were ridi- 
culed and every measure or amendment that favored the 
militia was classed as "pork barrel," meaning, of course, 
that Members preferred a little provincial graft to a 
strong standing army. 

These two extreme views serve to show the problem 



400 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

that confronted the Members and Senators in the spring 
of 1916, when they undertook to deduce from conflicting 
and hostile public sentiment a universal rule that would 
appear just to all. 

However, Congress must find some way out of the 
difficulty. The first step was taken by the House on 
February 7, when two minor bills were passed. One 
provides for adding about 300 midshipmen to the enter- 
ing classes at the Naval Academy. The other authorized 
the equipping of the navy yards at New York and 
Mare's Island for the construction of two battleships 
already authorized. These bills were passed without a 
dissenting vote. The cheerful feature of the advocates' 
program was seen in the acts of Speaker Clark, Democrat, 
and Minority Leader Mann, Republican. Both were 
fighting side by side for the measures. Preparedness was 
not a partisan issue. 

The great fight was over the reorganization of the 
Army, not over the increase asked for in the Navy. The 
Hay plan, the Chamberlin plan, and the War Department 
plan were before the Congress and the people of the 
nation. These three plans were discussed and revised 
and amended through March and April. But in May 
the danger from Mexico became more portentous. We 
had a long border across which the bloody hand of war 
had already been extended. The President had said that 
we did not have troops sufficient to patrol the border. 
The renewal of the submarine warfare held up grave 



NATION FOIL MILITARY PREPAREDNESS 401 

dangers to this nation and a break with Germany was 
threatening. Still Congress argued and amended and 
debated. But still it was made to appear that we were 
either threatened by a Standing Army, "the bottomless 
abyss of oblivion"; or by a National Guard, the selfish 
greed of "pork barrel" legislation and state graft. 

The demand for preparedness became more and more 
insistent. A monster parade was' planned in New York 
to give expression to the feelings of the people, and on 
May 33 approximately 140,000 persons of all grades of 
life and of all trades and professions from bankers to 
industrial workers, fell in line and marched through 
the streets. Mr. Thomas A. Edison, the great inventor, 
was at the head of the procession. 

New York's precedent was followed by Chicago with 
a parade of about 125,000 and Boston with approximately 
100,000. But Washington's great demonstration pre- 
sented the President of the United States with a flag in 
his hand marching at the head of the procession. Flag 
Day became "Preparedness Day" in hundreds of cities, 
and immense crowds marched through the streets, thus 
showing their interest in the question. Moreover, mayors 
of nearly one hundred cities in nineteen states signed a 
call for a preparedness convention to be held in Chat- 
tanooga, Tennessee, during the first week in June. 

Everybody was discussing preparedness. Congress 
was cartooned for being asleep, for being unable to act, 
for being afraid of the Army officer, and for falling in 



402 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

love with the "pork barrel." Every conceivable influ- 
ence was brought to bear on the nation's representatives 
to urge them to act either this way or that in the defense 
of the country. 

Then finally, under this pressure, the two Houses 
agreed on the last of May to a plan for the reorganization 
of the Army and sent it to the President. 

While the bill was lying on his table waiting for him 
to sign it, President "Wilson delivered an address at the 
Memorial Day exercises held in Arlington National 
Cemetery, May 31. On this occasion he made it clear 
again that he did not believe in compulsory military 
training. "I want to point out to you," he said, "the 
only process of preparation which is possible for the 
United States. It is possible for the United States to get 
ready only if the men of suitable age and strength will 
volunteer to get ready." 

He reminded the people that the latest bill for the 
reorganization of the Army was then lying on his table. 
This had come as the result of the great agitation 
throughout the nation. Everybody seemed to be talking 
preparedness. 

"I heard the President of the United States 
Chamber of Commerce," he said, ''report the 
other evening on a referendum of 750 of the 
Chambers of Commerce of the United States upon 
the question of preparedness and he reported that 



NATION FOi: MILITARY PREPAREDNESS 403 

99 per cent of them had voted in favor of 
preparedness." 

Then he added: 

''Very well, now we are going to apply the 
acid test to those gentlemen and the acid test is 
this: Will they give the young men in their 
employment freedom to volunteer for this thing! 
I wish the referendum had included that, because 
that is of the essence of the matter." 

In other words, how many of those business men, who 
were amply able, would give the young men a vacation 
or even keep them on the pay roll while they went into 
training to offer their lives to the best advantage for 
their country's welfare? 

"It is all very well," he said, "to say that 
somebody else must prepare, but are the business 
men of this country ready themselves to lend a 
band and sacrifice an interest in order that we 
may get ready .' We shall have an answer to that 
question in the next few months. A bill is lying 
on my table now ready to be signed which bris- 
tles all over with that interrogation point, and 1 
want all the business men of the country to see 



404 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

that interrogation point staring them in the 
face. ' ' 

The President then returned to the White House to 
consider the new act of Congress, and on June 3, he gave 
it his approval and a large part of the preparedness 
program had at last become a law. 

The new act provides for an increase in the standing 
army from a total enlisted strength of 100,000 to 175,000. 
But this increase is to be made "in five annual incre- 
ments, each of which shall be, in each grade of each army 
corps and department, as nearly as practicable, one-fifth 
of the total increase authorized." But in the event of 
actual or threatened war or similar emergency "in which 
the public safety demands it the President is authorized 
immediately to organize the entire increase authorized 
by this Act, or so much thereof as he may deem 
necessary. ' ' 

All the enlistments in the Regular Army "shall be 
for a term of seven years." This provision was in the 
old law. However, instead of spending four years in 
actual service and three years in the Reserve, the terms 
were reversed — three years in the Regular Army and 
four years in the Reserve. Moreover, men who have high 
rating in the Regular Army can leave active service at 
the end of one year and go into the Reserves. 

The Reserves may engage in ordinary civil occupations, 
but will be subject at once to the call of the colors in 



NATION FOB MILITARY PREPAREDNESS 405 

time of danger. When the plan is in full operation, it 
is claimed that "the number in the Reserves will be 
theoretically one-third greater than the number in the 
active army. " Therefore, if the color strength of the 
fighting force is 175,000, the Reserves will provide, in 
addition, about 2:5:5,000 men, or a total of 408,000 soldiers 
iin mediately prepared to respond to the President's call 
in time of danger. 

The Militia law in force before this act was passed 
provided: "that the Militia shall consist of every able- 
bodied male citizen of the respective states 
and every able-bodied male of foreign birth who has 
declared his intention to become a citizen, who is more 
than 18 and less than 45 years of age, and shall be 
divided into two classes — the organized militia, to be 
known as the National Guard . . . or by such other 
designations as may be given them by the laws of the 
respective States or territories ; the remainder to be 
known as the reserve Militia." 

The new act provides for the reorganization of the 
National Guard. But the greatest change made was in 
providing for the pay of officers and soldiers. Therefore, 
it became necessary to fix more definitely the size of the 
National Guard in the respective states. The new act 
provides, therefore, that the number of enlisted men of 
the National Guard "shall be for each state in the pro- 
portion of two hundred such men for each Senator and 
Representative." But it may be increased "until a total 



406 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

peace strength of not less than eight hundred enlisted 
men for each Senator and Representative in Congress 
shall have been reached." This provides, therefore, for 
approximately 400,000 soldiers in the National Guard. 
Thus after five years, when both the Regular Army and 
the National Guard are fully organized, the nation will 
have a defensive force of about 800,000 soldiers. 

The law provides, moreover, that "each enlisted man 
in the active list belonging to an organization of the 
National Guard . . . shall receive compensation for 
his services . . at a rate equal to twenty-five 

percentum of the initial pay now provided by law for 
enlisted men of corresponding grades of the Regular 
Army." But during periods of service the members of 
the National Guard will receive the same pay as an 
enlisted man of corresponding grade of the Regular 
Army. 

The compensation provided for is based upon the num- 
ber of drills attended. Each enlisted man may receive 
$48 a year. But the officers may receive amounts as 
follows : Captain, $500 ; First Lieutenant, $240 ; Second 
Lieutenant, $200. 

"Whenever Congress authorizes the use of the armed 
forces of the United States, "for any purpose requiring 
the use of troops in excess of those of the Regular Army, 
the President may draft into the military service of 
the United States to serve therein for the period of the 



NATION FOR MILITARY PREPAREDNESS 407 

war . . . any or all members of the National Guard 
and of the National Guard Reserve." 

These together with the Regular Army and the Federal 
Reserves will place at the call of the nation about 800,000 
soldiers, and within a few years the total may reach a 
million men. Moreover, there is ample provision for 
special training camps and for officers' training camps in 
the colleges, and educational courses for the soldiers with 
the colors to fit them for some trade on their return to 
civil life. 

No military measure to compare with it has ever been 
passed by Congress — not even during the Civil War, and 
with its passage the greater part of the fight for pre- 
paredness was over. 



CHAPTER XIX 

THE NEED OF COMMERCIAL PREPAREDNESS 

Military preparedness was only one of the new issues 
created by the war. Commerce, business, finance, edu- 
cation — all were greatly affected. The war, therefore, 
had been in progress only a few weeks when commercial 
preparedness became a live issue. In his campaign for 
military preparedness, President Wilson said: 

"By an oversight, for which it is difficult to 
forgive ourselves, we did not provide ourselves 
when there was proper peace and opportunity 
with a mercantile marine, by means of w T hich we 
could carry the commerce of the world without 
interfering with the natives of other nations which 
might be engaged in a controversy not our own. ' ' 

This oversight explains much of the depression in 
business, the panic of the railroads, the closing of fac- 
tories, the decline in the price of cotton, the rise in the 
cost of living, and the diminishing returns from the 
tariff during the first months of the European war. 
But how did this "oversight" have such a damaging 
effect on the American people ? 

408 



NEED OF COMMERCIAL PREPAREDNESS 409 

It was well known in trade circles even before the 
outbreak of the European war that the ships of Euro- 
pean nations were really the carriers of American 
commerce. Only about eight per cent of American for- 
eign trade was carried in American vessels. Moreover, 
it is the established policy of this Government to draw 
the larger part of its revenue from the tariff which is 
dependent upon this trade. Therefore, any force that 
affects trade affects, likewise, the whole commercial life 
of the people and the revenue of the American Govern- 
ment. 

At the beginning of the war only six steamships out 
of the three hundred, more or less, regularly engaged in 
the great transatlantic trade between the United States 
and Europe, were flying the American flag. Moreover, 
there were no American steamship lines to the leading 
countries of South America with the exception of one 
freight line operated by the United States Steel Cor- 
poration with the chartered ships of the American- 
Hawaiian Company from New York to Brazil. Such 
was America's commercial preparedness to meet a great 
crisis, when the world should have been her trade unit 
and vessels flying the American flag should have crowded 
all the seas. 

The vessels of Germany and England were supreme 
on the seas. However, at the outbreak of the war the 
ships of Germany were at once bottled up at home or 
interned in foreign ports to lie idle until the end of the 



410 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

war. The vessels of England were now the servants of 
the war. Many were converted into naval auxiliaries. 
Many more were impressed into service as transports for 
troops. The great transatlantic liners were carriers of 
war munitions, and all were subject to such risks that 
war insurance made it next to unprofitable to carry any 
freight save war supplies. The result was natural — a 
paralysis of American commerce and a stagnation in all 
business circles, a decline in revenue and a resort to 
new and vexatious modes of taxation, a discontent 
throughout the nation and a widening of the breach 
between citizens whose sympathies were running strongly 
with their respective fatherland at war ; and not only was 
the prosperity of the entire nation seriously disturbed, 
but the neutrality of its citizens was greatly endangered. 
More than a century ago Washington and Jefferson 
warned this country that dependence upon foreign 
nations as our sea carriers was a costly blunder, and so 
quickly did American business respond to that warning 
that by 1810 American ships were carrying over 90 per 
cent of this country's produce. But in 1910, a century 
later, foreign nations were carrying more than 90 per 
cent of American trade, while American vessels were 
carrying barely 8 per cent. It was the Civil War that 
finally destroyed American commerce and gave to Eng- 
land the supremacy of the seas, and since that time 
American business has developed under Governmental 
protection. Therefore, it ceased to seek new fields of 



NEED OF COMMERCIAL PREPAREDNESS 411 

adventure where the protection of the Government was 
wanting. 

Over and over again the question of subsidies to 
American ships was proposed in Congress. This policy- 
was championed by the Republican party, under whose 
guidance American business formed the habit of relying 
on the Government for protection. But the Democratic 
party, having a traditional abhorrence for such protec- 
tion whether pertaining to the tariff or to American built 
ships, declared quadrennially in their platforms against 
such a policy. It had become the habit of one party to 
favor and the other to oppose protection, and a certain 
mental habit was the result, which had reached a fixed- 
ness so unprogressive, that Congress was almost unable 
to act on any great public question if the element of 
protection was discovered to be lurking somewhere within 
its folds. Therefore, nothing was done to improve our 
merchant marine. 

Such a condition was not the result of an "oversight" 
on the part of President Wilson. When the Democratic 
party in 1912 notified him of his nomination for the 
Presidency, he called the attention of the party then to 
this great need, and he was deeply in earnest when he 
declared that, "without a great merchant marine we 
cannot take our rightful place in the commerce of the 
world." 

''Merchants," he said, "who must depend upon 



^412 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

the carriers of rival mercantile nations to carry 
their goods to market are at a disadvantage in 
mercantile trade too manifest to need to be 
pointed out; and our merchants will not long 
suffer themselves — ought not to suffer them- 
selves — to be placed at. such a disadvantage. Our 
industries have expanded to such a point that 
they will burst their jackets if they cannot find 
a free outlet to the markets of the world ; and they 
cannot find such an outlet unless they be given 
ships of their own to carry their goods — ships that 
will go the routes they want them to go — and 
prefer the interests of America in their sailing 
orders and their equipment." 

He was arguing then for a preparedness that would 
make America supreme in the commercial world. But 
there was another reason why he urged the Democratic 
party to think seriously of this matter, 

"The very fact that we have at last taken 
the Panama Canal seriously in hand and are 
vigorously pushing it toward completion is elo- 
quent of our reawakened interest in international 
trade. We are not building the canal and pour- 
ing out millions upon millions upon its con- 
struction merely to establish a water connec- 
tion between the two coasts of the continent, 



NKKD OF CO.M.MKKC'IAL PREPAREDNESS 413 

important ami desirable as that may be, particu- 
larly from the point of view of naval defense. 
It is meant to be a great international highway. 
It would be a little ridiculous if we should build 
it and then have no ships to send through it. 
There have been years when not a single ton 
of freight passed through the great Suez Canal 
in an American bottom, so empty are the seas 
of our ships and seamen. We must mean to put 
an end to that kind of thing or we should not 
be cutting a new canal at our very doors merely 
for use of our men-of-war. We shall not manage 
the revival by the mere paltry device of tolls. 
We must build and buy ships in competition with 
the world. We can do it if we will but give our- 
selves leave." 

When these words were uttered, however, they had 
little, if any, effect upon the public mind. The people 
were thinking of the tariff, and the currency, and trusts, 
and monopolies. The Republican party was in favor of 
a merchant marine, but it would establish it by means 
of subsidies. The Democratic party was in favor of a 
merchant marine, but a part would have private indi- 
viduals spend their own money for it, while another 
part would have the Government go into the business 
and own and operate vessels of its own. Thus between 



414 WOODROW WILSOX AS PRESIDENT 

"subsidies" and "socialistic" schemes of governmental 
ownership, the Fathers stood still, and when the great 
war came, the advice of the leading statesmen, from 
George Washington to Woodrow Wilson, arose as a 
protest against the conduct of political parties and the 
inactivity of American business; for a nation of a hun- 
dred million people was without ships with which to 
move its goods, keep industry alive, and supply the 
homes of the world with the necessities of life. 

At the outbreak of the war, therefore, immediate action 
became extremely necessary. Several temporary meas- 
ures that gave some relief were passed before the Long 
Congress closed. 

The war, however, had affected international trade by 
creating demands for a new class of goods which America 
was preeminently prepared to supply. But the few 
available vessels for this transatlantic trade were loaded 
almost exclusively with only one class of goods — war 
supplies — while the products of all the other many in- 
dustries of America suffered. Even in times of peace 
America's few vessels could carry only a small per cent 
of our trade. But now that America had become the 
great supply nation of the world, a large part of the 
ships of the world were tied up or destroyed, and Amer- 
ica was as helpless to market many of her products as 
Germany, the blockaded nation, was to receive them. 
We had to depend, therefore, upon one of the great 
belligerents, Great Britain, to carry our commerce, and 



NEED OF COMMERCIAL PREPAREDNESS 415 

neutrality was by no means so easy to preserve because 
of this dependence upon one of the leading nations at 
war. 

So great was the need that the Administration con- 
sidered establishing a government-owned steamship cor- 
poration, and proposed a bill authorizing the creation 
at once of a corporation, 51 per cent of whose stock 
should be owned by the United States, for the purchase 
and operation of merchant vessels. It was proposed that 
this corporation purchase the German vessels tied up in 
American waters. But such a protest was raised by the 
Allies of Europe, on the grounds that this would be 
supplying Germany with funds to prosecute the war, 
that the idea was finally abandoned. "It is one of the 
recognized principles of international law that merchant 
ships must not pass from the flag of a belligerent to the 
flag of a neutral, for the mere purpose of avoiding risk 
or for evasion of such inconveniences as are created by 
a state of maritime warfare." But there was no danger 
of this nation's buying foreign vessels. Although extraor- 
dinary conditions demanded extraordinary measures, 
Congress became panicky on the subject of a government- 
owned shipping corporation, and adjourned leaving this 
question to be made the leading issue when the next ses- 
sion opened in December. 

But how were the wheat, and cotton, and corn, and 
steel, and munitions of war, and a thousand other articles 
to be shipped to Europe? Our ships were few and the 



416 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

risk was great. In the meantime the cotton planters of 
the South were receiving seven cents for their cotton, 
stocks and bonds were not even rated, and there was a 
considerable falling off in the government revenue. The 
Treasury Department, however, was authorized to create 
a Bureau of Marine Kisk Insurance with power to insure 
American vessels against the risks of war. But how few 
American vessels! 

The second session of the 63rd Congress assembled 
December 8, 1914. The Members and Senators had had 
a little more than a month in which to rest up from the 
Long Congress and to think over the question of Mer- 
chant Marine, a subject, as Mr. Wilson said, "much 
talked about but little acted upon." Industrial and 
commercial demoralization was so severe that it was a 
foregone conclusion before the Senators and Members 
returned to Washington that Mr. Wilson was planning 
to make the question of Merchant Marine the important 
issue of the short session of Congress. 

It was no surprise to Congress, therefore, when Mr. 
Wilson appeared and pushed the need of a merchant 
marine ahead of military preparedness and every other 
issue. Senators and Members remembered the bitter 
fight of the previous session, and when he began speak- 
ing, "Ship Subsidy" looked across the hall at "Govern- 
ment Ownership," and each knew that the President was 
calling the hosts to battle again and that another great 
fight was scheduled. 



NEED OF COMMERCIAL PREPAREDNESS 417 

"War has interrupted not only the moans of 
trade but also the processes of production," Ik 1 
said. "In Europe it is destroying men and 
resources wholesale and upon a scale unprece- 
dented and appalling. There is reason to fear 
that the time is near, if it be not already at 
hand, when several of the countries of Europe 
will find it difficult to do for their people what 
they have hitherto been always easily able to 
do, — many essential and fundamental things. At 
any rate, they will need our help and our mani- 
fold services as they have never needed them 
before; and we should be ready, more fit and 
ready than we have ever been. 

It is of equal consequence that the nations 
whom Europe has usually supplied with innum- 
erable articles of manufacture and commerce of 
which they are in constant need and without 
which their economic development halts and 
stands still, can now get only a small part of 
what they formerly imported, and eagerly look 
on us to supply their all but empty markets. 
This is particularly true of our own neighbors, 
the States, great and small, of Central and South 
America. Their lines of trade have hitherto run 
chiefly athwart the seas, not to our ports but to 



418 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

the ports of Great Britain and of the older con- 
tinent of Europe. I do not stop to inquire why, 
or to make any comment on probable causes. 
What interests us just now is not the explana- 
tion but the fact, and our duty and opportunity 
is in the presence of it. Here are markets which 
we must supply, and we must find the means of 
action. The United States, this great people for 
whom we speak and act, should be ready, as 
never before, to serve itself and to serve man- 
kind; ready with its resources, its energies, its 
forces of production, and its means of distribu- 
tion. ' ' 

He then told Congress what each member 
already knew: that we were totally unprepared 
"to mobilize our resources at once" and that we 
were unable "to use them immediately and at 
their best, without delay and without waste." 

"To speak plainly," he said, "we have greatly 
erred in the way in which we have stinted and 
hindered the development of our merchant ma- 
rine. And now when we need ships, we have 
not got them. ' ' 

The American people were helpless victims to the 
rapacity of foreign shipping combines. Therefore, he 



NEED OF COMMERCIAL PREPAREDNESS 419 

was asking Congress to correct its mistake of the past 
and consider the matter in a serious light. 



"How are we to carry our goods to the empty 
markets of which I have spoken if we have not 
the ships?" he asked. "How are w 7 e to build 
up a great trade if we have not the certain and 
constant means of transportation upon which 
all profitable and useful commerce depends? And 
how are we to get the ships if we wait for the 
trade to develop without them? To correct the 
many mistakes by which we have discouraged and 
all but destroyed the merchant marine of the 
country, to retrace the steps by which we have, 
it seems almost deliberately, withdrawn our flag 
from the seas, except w T here, here and there, a 
ship of war is bidden to carry it or some wan- 
dering yacht displays it, would take a long time 
and involve many detailed items of legislation, 
and the trade which we ought immediately to 
handle would disappear or find other channels 
while we debated the items." 

He then touched upon a very delicate question. lie 
told Congress of the subsidies that had born voted to 
railroads when we needed long lines of railroads. 



420 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

"We look upon this with regret now, because 
the subsidies led to many scandals, of which we 
are ashamed." "However, the roads had to 
be built," he said, "but if we had to do it over 
again, we should of course build them, but in 
another way." And then he proposed another 
way of providing means of transportation : ' ' The 
pending shipping bill which was discussed at the 
last session, but as yet has been passed by neither 
house." 

"In my judgment," he said, "such legislation 
is imperatively needed and cannot wisely be post- 
poned. The Government must open these gates 
of trade, and open them wide; open them before 
it is altogether profitable to open them, or alto- 
gether reasonable to ask private capital to open 
them at a venture. It is not a question of the 
Government monopolizing the field. It should 
take action to make it certain that transporta- 
tion at reasonable rates will be promptly pro- 
vided, even where the carriage is not at first 
profitable; and then, when the carriage has be- 
come sufficiently profitable to attract and engage 
private capital, and engage it in abundance, the 
Government ought to withdraw. I very earnestly 
hope that the Congress will be of this opinion, 



NEED OF COMMERCIAL PREPAREDNESS 421 

and that both Houses will adopt this exceedingly 
important bill." 

Rut Congress did not take the President's view point. 
Their minds could not possibly get away from "sub- 
sidies" and "government ownership." They would 
neither accept the President's program nor suggest a 
hotter one. Since the government-managed idea was so 
objectionable, Mr. Wilson modified his first bill and 
advocated purchasing ships and leasing them to indi- 
viduals or to corporations. He consulted commercial 
companies and captains of industry ; he reasoned with 
Congressmen and Senators, and suggested alterations. 
The House acted promptly, but the Senate was stubborn. 
The President was in favor of a bold policy — one that 
would equip this country with merchant ships. But they 
were afraid of his boldness. 

Soon it became apparent that a partisan fight was 
being made against his plan to relieve the congestion 
in this country. There were rumors afloat that certain 
senators were determined to defeat his measure at all 
hazards, even if they had to talk it to death. Not 
since the lobbyists were so active against the tariff bill 
had the President shown so much feeling. He was the 
guest of the Jackson Club of Indianapolis. January 8, 
and in his address that evening he took the opportunity 
to pay his respects to the Senators who were openly 
plotting to defeat the Merchant Marine bill, and, then, 



422 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

lie restated a part of his reasons for advocating so 
strongly the bill that was drawn to give America ade- 
quate shipping facilities. 

"Do you know, gentlemen," lie said, "that the 
ocean freight rates have gone up in some in- 
stances to ten times their ordinary figures, and 
that the farmers of the United States, those who 
raise grain and those who raise cotton — these 
things that are absolutely necessary to the world 
as well as to ourselves — cannot get any profit 
out of the great prices that they are willing to 
pay for these things on the other side of the sea 
because the whole profit is eaten up by the extor- 
tionate charges for ocean carriage? The mer- 
chants and farmers of this country must have 
ships to carry their goods, and just at the present 
moment there is no way of getting them except 
through the instrumentality of the Shipping 
Bill." 

However, as the debate dragged along, the opposition 
was more determined than ever, and on the first real 
test, a deadlock in the Senate, 48 to 48, was the result. 
Day after day friends of the measure sought to break 
the deadlock. Immediate relief was demanded since 
Congress would expire by limitation on March 4. There- 
fore, the President did not have the months before him 



NEED OF COMMERCIAL PREPAREDNESS 423 

in which to exercise that patience that was his tower of 
sf length in the old fight on the tariff and the currency. 
The Senate balked, and again the vote was 48 to 48. Then 
the 4th of March came, and Congress adjourned, having 
done little to relieve the distress. 

Mr. Wilson did not cease to agitate the question and 
to inform the public of the cause of much of the business 
depression. But many people were still hostile to his 
policy on the ground that it was "socialistic." 

"When the Pan-American Conference met in Wash- 
ington in May, 1915, the delegates from the Latin Ameri- 
can Republics were welcomed to the Capitol of the United 
States by the President. In his address he referred to 
the greatest obstacle in the way of forming a great Tan- 
American Union. 

"There is one thing," he said, "that stands in 
our way. You are more conversant with the cir- 
cumstances than I am. The thing that I have in 
mind chiefly is that physical lack of means of 
communication, the lack of vehicles, the lack of 
ships, the lack of established routes of trade, 
the lack of those things which are absolutely 
necessary if we are to have true commercial 
relations with one another; and I am perfectly 
clear in my judgment that, if private capital 
cannot soon enter upon the adventure of estab- 



424 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

lishing these physical means of communication, 
the Government must undertake to do so." 

Again the press retorted that Mr. Wilson was urging 
his "socialistic" schemes before the people. However, 
what he said was: if private capital cannot bring the 
needed relief, "The Government must undertake to do 
so;" and he was talking to a people who had been in 
the habit of getting American goods by way of Liverpool. 
But the Senate was not in favor of the Government's 
undertaking the job, and private capital was yet timid. 

By early summer it was apparent that American busi- 
ness was becoming bolder than formerly. The large 
demand for shipping facilities was coaxing some of the 
timid capital into a merchant marine and by July 1, 
1915, there were "seventy-six steel merchant ships build- 
ing in American ship yards" and by December 1, one 
hundred and twenty-six were ordered, "making a total 
tonnage building of 761,511." However, only about 20 
per cent of these new ships were for foreign trade, the 
remainder being coast-wise vessels. 

Many of these were built to take the place of old craft 
drafted into foreign trade, while others were being con- 
structed in a manner to enable them to cross the seas if 
occasion should arise. However, not all the vessels under 
construction were for American ship o.wners. Many of 
them were for neutral European nations. But never 
before had American ship yards been so busy. This 



NEED OF COMMERCIAL PREPAREDNESS 425 

renewed activity was an argument advanced against the 
administration 's program. 

In the meantime this nation had suffered in prestige 
from a decline in commerce, in revenue, in agricultural 
profits, and in industry. Mr. McAdoo, Secretary of the 
Treasury, in an address delivered before the Chamber of 
Commerce of Indianapolis, Indiana, on October 13, 1915, 
spoke very plainly of the loss to this country as a result 
of this great neglect, or oversight, or whatever it was 
called. 

"This measure (the President's shipping bill) would 
have been of inestimable service to the country had it 
passed," he said, "because there was a superabundance, 
of purchasable ship tonnage which could have been 
bought at that time and used with immense benefit to 
American commerce during the past year. ' ' 

But, he declared, 

"American business has paid dearly for the defeat 
of that measure. I am sure that the increased and extor- 
tionate freight rates paid by our defenseless producers 
and shippers in the past 12 months have exceeded sev- 
eral times the $40,000,000 which the shipping bill author- 
ized the Government to expend on merchant vessels. But 
this is only a small part of the injury. Grave losses have 
been sustained by our business men because they could 
not ship at all. Take lumber and manufacturers of wool 
as an example. For the fiscal year 1914 our exports of 
these products were, in round numbers, $99,000,000 ; for 



426 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

the fiscal year 1915 they were, in round numbers, 
$48,000,000, a decline of $51,000,000. This was due 
almost entirely to the lack of ships and prohibitory ocean 
rates. 

Take coal as another instance. In the face of the most 
extraordinary demand for our coal from Spain, Italy, 
France, Argentina, and South America, our total exports 
of coal for the fiscal year 1915 were, in round numbers, 
$56,000,000, against $60,000,000 for 1914— showing a 
decline of $4,000,000 in the face of the greatest demand 
in our history for our coal for foreign consumption. 
France alone needs 40,000,000 tons of coal the next year. 
We could supply it if we had the vessels. Think of the 
stimulus to our coal and lumber industries and the profit- 
able employment it would give to labor if we had sup- 
plied the ships to secure this foreign trade for our pro- 
ducers. I could multiply instances, but it is unneces- 
sary . 

"For the past year, because of the lack of American 
ships and the scarcity of ocean tonnage generally, ocean 
freights in the Atlantic have been extortionately high. 
The normal rate of 4 cents per bushel for grain from 
New York to Liverpool has been increased to 40 cents 
per bushel. I do not have to argue with any intelligent 
farmer that he gets less for his grain on the farm when 
it costs 40 cents per bushel to ship it from New York to 
Liverpool than when it costs only 4 cents per bushel for 
the same service. The cotton producer in the South has 



NEED OF COMMERCIAL PREPAREDNESS 427 

suffered in greater degree. Ocean freight rates on cotton 
have gone as high as $15 per bale from Galveston to 
llu rope, as against $2.50 per bale prior to the European 
war. 

"Our farmers, because they produce the bulk of our 
wealth as well as the bulk of our exports, ought to be 
protected against extortionate ocean freight rates, and 
ought to have the assurance of sufficient steamship service 
and reasonable rates to secure fair treatment and enable 
them at all times to compete in the open markets with 
their rivals in the other great farm producing regions 
of the world." 

After a year of war it was becoming very clear to 
many thoughtful men in both parties, that, even if pri- 
vate corporations should in the end supply the business 
of this country with sufficient ships to handle its foreign 
commerce, our shipping problems would by no means 
be solved. The w r ar had taught this nation one great 
lesson; namely, that either the government should own 
an adequate number of vessels, or should have such a 
control of merchant marine companies that this nation 
would not be embarrassed in times of war and the busi- 
ness of the country could not be injured at the will of 
shipping companies. The Secretary of the Treasury was 
pleading in his Indianapolis address for a regulation of 
our ocean carriers similar to that of our railroads, and 
he cited the conduct of the Pacific Mail Steamship Com- 
pany. 



428 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

"Here is a company," he said, "which has operated 
a service between San Francisco and the Orient for many 
years. Our business men, manufacturers, and producers 
have built up great trade interests with the Orient upon 
the faith of this service. All of a sudden, without ade- 
quate notice, and with utter indifference to the injuries 
that might be done to shippers and the interests of this 
country, the Pacific Mail Steamship Company sells its 
ships and announces that it will discontinue its service. 
Suppose that the directors of the Union Pacific Railroad 
Company should decide that they could make more money 
for their stockholders by tearing up the rails of their 
tracks and selling them and their locomotives and cars 
to some belligerent government, because that belligerent 
government is willing in time of war to pay fabulous 
prices therefor, what do you suppose the indignant people 
along the line of this railroad would do to the officers 
and directors of that company? No common carrier on 
land would be permitted to do such an arbitrary and 
injurious thing as our common carriers on the high seas 
may at any time do with impunity. 

"The Pacific Mail people claim that the passage of 
the Seamen's Bill forced them to discontinue business. 
I am told that the Seamen 's Bill was not the mainspring 
for the transfer of the Pacific Mail vessels. The Panama 
Canal act, which denied railroads owning competitive 
steamship lines the right to operate them through the 
canal, and the fact that present abnormal rates for cargo 



NEED OF COMMERCIAL PREPAREDNESS 429 

space on the Atlantic, which made it possible for the 
Pacific Mail to sell its ships at more than their real 
value, was, 1 understand, the true cause of their sale." 

Mr. McAdoo gave figures to prove that "weight and 
measure freight" between the Pacific and the Orient had 
increased 200 per cent and that more freight was offered 
at even these figures than steamship companies could 
take. Notwithstanding these conditions, freight was piled 
up at the ports to lie there from "six to eight months" 
because of the lack of adequate shipping facilities. 

The discussion of this question continued all summer 
and fall. Our commercial preparedness was thoroughly 
gone into, and many people became informed who had 
never given the matter any consideration. The action 
of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company in discontinuing 
its service created another issue: Should a well-estab- 
lished line be permitted to alter its course so as to destroy 
the business that had been built up as a result of the 
establishment of such lines? 

The campaign for military and naval preparedness had 
created another issue: Should the American navy have 
ready at its disposal merchant vessels so constructed as 
to render essential service to battleships in time of war / 
Mr. McAdoo declared that "it is a fact, and every naval 
expert will so testify, that a merchant marine naval auxil- 
iary is just as essential to the effectiveness of the navy, 
considered as a complete fighting machine, as the guns 
upon the decks of our battleships and the seamen upon 



430 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

whose skill and valor the effectiveness of these guns 
depends." This is true because battleships at sea must 
be furnished with coal, provisions, and supplies of all 
kinds. But in this country (at the outbreak of the 
European war) individuals and corporations com- 
bined, owned only about 8 per cent of the number of 
vessels required to carry American commerce even in 
times of peace, to say nothing of our extra demand in 
times of war. 

The need of merchant vessels as auxiliaries to the bat- 
tleships and cruisers had been recognized for a number 
of years. The Spanish American War brought this ques- 
tion home to the people of the United States, at a time 
when this nation met with many difficulties and sus- 
tained considerable financial loss in securing ships for 
transporting troops to Cuba. This argument was 
brought out anew in the discussion of the problem in the 
summer of 1915. 

When the 64th Congress convened, December 7, it was 
quite evident that other great issues created or brought 
to the front by the war were intimately related to the 
merchant marine. Military preparedness, commercial 
preparedness, and a greater Pan American Union were 
all dependent upon it. The new legislative program 
embraced measures that would require the greatest wis- 
dom and patriotism in order to adjust them to the press- 
ing needs of the people. 

At the opening of Congress, therefore, Mr. Wilson 



NEED OF COMMERCIAL PREPAREDNESS 431 

again urged that body to enact an adequate shipping law. 
Be had said that he would not hold to his opinions if a 
better way for improving the poor shipping facilities 
could be shown. "But," he declared, "it is the best 
way to do it until you show a better one. ' ' And since no 
better way had been advanced, the growing demand for 
better shipping facilities was giving support to his con- 
tention that the country needed that shipping bill. 

''It is necessary," he said, "for many weighty 
reasons of national efficiency and development, 
that we should have a great merchant marine. 
The great merchant fleet we once used to make 
us rich, that great body of sturdy sailors who 
used to carry our flag into every sea, and who 
were the pride and often the bulwark of the 
nation, we have almost driven out of existence 
by inexcusable neglect and indifference and by 
a hopelessly blind and provincial policy of so- 
called economic protection. It is high time we 
repaired our mistake and resumed our commer- 
cial independence on the seas. 

"For it is a question of independence. If 
other nations go to war to seek to hamper each 
other's commerce, our merchants, it seems, are 
at their mercy, to do with as they please. We 
must use their ships, and use them as they 



432 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

determine. We have not ships enough of our 
own. We cannot handle our own commerce on 
the seas. Our independence is provincial, and 
it is only on land and within our own borders. 
We are not likely to be permitted to use even 
the ships of other nations in rivalry of their own 
trade, and are without means to extend our com- 
merce even where the doors are wide open and 
goods desired. Such a situation is not to be 
endured. It is of capital importance not only 
that the United States should be its own carrier 
on the seas and enjoy the economic independence 
which only an adequate merchant marine would 
give it, but also that the American hemisphere 
as a whole should enjoy a like independence and 
self-sufficiency, if it is not to be drawn into the 
tangle of European affairs. Without such inde- 
pendence the whole question of our political unity 
and self-determination is very seriously clouded 
and complicated indeed. 

"Moreover, we can develop no true or effective 
American policy without ships of our own — not 
ships of war, but ships of peace, carrying goods 
and carrying much more; creating friendships 
and rendering indispensable services to all inter- 
ests on this side of the water. They are the 



NEED OF COMMERCIAL PREPAREDNESS 433 

only shuttles that can weave the delicate fabric 
of sympathy, comprehension, confidence, and 
mutual dependence in which we wish to clothe 
our policy of America for Americans. 

"The task of building up an adequate mer- 
chant marine for America private capital must 
ultimately undertake and achieve, as it has 
undertaken and achieved every like task among 
us in the past with admirable enterprise, intelli- 
gence, and vigor, and it seems to me a manifest 
dictate of wisdom that we should promptly 
remove every legal obstacle that may stand in 
the way of this much-to-be-desired revival of our 
old independence, and should facilitate in every 
possible way the building, purchase, and Ameri- 
can registration of ships. But capital cannot 
accomplish this task of a sudden. It must embark 
upon it by degrees, as the opportunities of trade 

develop. 

"Something must be done at once ; done to open 
routes and develop opportunities where they are 
as yet undeveloped; done to open the arteries of 
trade where the currents have not learned to 
run — especially between the two American con- 
tinents, where they are, singularly enough, yet 
to be created and quickened; and it is evident 



434 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

that only the government can undertake such 
beginnings and assume the initial financial risks. 
When the risk has passed and private capital 
begins to find its way in sufficient abundance into 
these new channels, the Government may with- 
draw. But it cannot omit to begin. It should 
take the first steps, and should take them at 
once. Our goods must not lie piled up at our 
ports and stored upon side tracks in freight 
cars which are daily needed on the roads; must 
not be left without means of transport to any for- 
eign quarter. We must not await the permission 
of foreign shipowners and foreign Governments 
to send them where we will. 

"With a view to meeting these pressing neces- 
sities of our commerce and availing ourselves at 
the earliest possible moment of the present unpar- 
alleled opportunity of linking the two Americas 
together in bonds of mutual interest and service, 
an opportunity which may never return again 
if we miss it now, proposals will be made to the 
present Congress for the purchase or construc- 
tion of ships to be owned and directed by the 
Government similar to those made to the last 
Congress, but modified in some essential particu- 
lars. I recommend these proposals to you for 



NEED OF COMMERCIAL PREPAREDNESS 435 

your prompt acceptance with the more confidence 
because every month that has elapsed since the 
former proposals were made has made the neces- 
sity for such action more and more manifestly 
imperative. This need was then foreseen; it is 
now acutely felt and everywhere realized by those 
for whom trade is waiting but who can find no 
conveyance for their goods. I am not so much 
interested in the particulars of the program as 
I am in taking immediate advantage of the great 
opportunity which awaits us if we will but act 
in this emergency. In this matter, as in all 
others, a spirit of common counsel should pre- 
vail, and out of it should come an early solution 
of this pressing problem." 

The President was still concerned for an immediate 
relief. But the leading newspapers of the country 
seemed to be satisfied with the progress of private cor- 
porations, and it is true that they were making tre- 
mendous progress. But the President's program em- 
braced considerably more than the mere moving of piled 
up goods from American ports. He was pleading for 
a merchant marine that would make America supreme 
on the high seas ami would take the world for our trade 
unit. Moreover, he saw the necessity of hastening the 
Pan-American Union and of making the trade lines 



436 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDF.NT 

strong between the two western continents and he was 
asking for a merchant marine under the control or own- 
ership of the nation that would establish permanent lines 
of trade, and would offer at the same time a naval auxil- 
iary that would be our safety in times of war between 
this nation and any other strong country. 

It was pointed out by Mr. Redfield, the Secretary of 
Commerce, that Great Britain was using about three 
thousand merchant ships simply as attendants upon her 
own fleet, and without them her great navy would be 
helpless. He estimated that if we had to use our navy 
on the seas today, about nine hundred merchant ships 
of all kinds would be required for supply service. 

In January Mr. Wilson held repeated conferences with 
Senators and Members — with those who favored the old 
bill, and then with those who opposed it. A new bill was 
drawn which met the approval of many who had opposed 
the old bill. The one feature in the old bill that was so 
objectionable to many Members and Senators and that 
caused the deadlock in the Senate was the Government 
ownership feature. The new bill so modified that section 
as to eliminate the possibility that the Government might 
enter permanently into the shipping business, and pro- 
vided also that the naval auxiliaries might be leased to 
shipping companies when not demanded for immediate 
use of the navy. 

Mr. Wilson had said that he was not "so much inter- 
ested in the particulars of the program as I am in taking 



NEED OF COMMERCIAL PREPAREDNESS 437 

immediate advantage of the great opportunity which 
awaits us." And now that the agreement had been 
reached, he insisted that the bill should be enacted as 
soon as possible. 

So many things had to be done in order to project this 
nation forward into this new and extraordinary era, and 
Congress seemed to be moving so slowly, too slowly, for 
the welfare of the nation, that the President carried the 
issues to the people. Military preparedness was only 
one of the great problems that he discussed for the en- 
lightenment of the people. Commercial preparedness, 
industrial preparedness, educational preparedness, the 
need of a Pan-American Union, and a new interpretation 
of the Monroe Doctrine — all were discussed. In other 
words, he was blazing out new paths into the future and 
calling upon Congress to follow. He was imperative for 
this nation to spring forward with energy and prepare 
for changes which "no one can certainly foresee or con- 
fidently predict." 

It was predicted that the bill so modified would be 
enacted without delay. However, the renewal of the 
submarine warfare by Germany, England's attitude to- 
ward our commerce, the preservation of the Monroe Doc- 
trine, and the revolution in Mexico brought military 
preparedness to the front, and in spite of the great 
demand for a merchant marine it now had to take second 
place. 

However, President Wilson would not let it sleep in 



438 VVOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

the committee room. During the month of March he 
began to urge the committees to push the bill, and early 
in April he wrote to Mr. Claud Kitchin, the Democratic 
Leader of the House : 

"It would seem as if the whole movement for 
our trade and industry waited a satisfactory solu- 
tion of our problem of transportation. That is 
the reason why it seems to me that the shipping 
bill should be pressed to an early passage." 

Again it was pointed out that we were dependent upon 
Great Britain for the carriage of the greatest part of 
our commerce; that we were paying more than $300,- 
000,000 to foreign steamship companies to carry Ameri- 
can commerce to the markets of the world; that if we 
were to press into service all the available merchant ves- 
sels as naval auxiliaries, we would still lack about 
500,000 tons "to meet the needs of our navy as it stands 
today, without allowing for growth;" that we were 
unable at present to seek foreign trade in new fields 
without relying upon foreign vessels to carry our 
goods; and that we had no shipping board with suffi- 
cient power to regulate shipping rates and practices 
and establish and adjust rules of navigation. There- 
fore, Congress was urged to pass the bill. 

Early in June, after the Senate and House had dis- 
posed of the Army Reorganization Bill, the Shipping Bill 



NEED OF COMMERCIAL PREPAREDNESS 439 

passed the House. It contained provision for a ship- 
ping board, the purchase or construction of vessels suit- 
able to the commercial requirements of the marine trade 
of the United States, and "for use as naval auxiliaries or 
army transports, or for other naval or military pur- 
poses. ' ' 

Moreover, it was provided that the Board, if it believes 
that actual operation of ships by the Government is 
needed, may form a corporation with a capital stock not 
exceeding $50,000,000, and the Government through the 
Board may own and control "not less than a majority" 
of the capital stock. 

This feature defeated the bill before. But in order to 
make it less objectionable and win the support of certain 
Senators and Members it was so modified as to limit the 
government's ownership of the vessels to a term not 
longer than "five years from the conclusion of the present 
European war." 

Congress had already waited too long. The tonnage, 
owing to losses by the war and the use of merchant ves- 
sels as naval auxiliaries, had been reduced almost fifty 
per cent. There were not enough ships available to carry 
the world's trade, and America suffered because the 
United States was the great supply nation. The allies 
were now willing for the United States to buy the in- 
terned vessels of Germany and Austria. But those 
nations were not disposed to sell. It is said thai freight 
was so high in the spring of 1916 that "ships are paying 



440 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

their cost in one voyage," and the demand was so great 
that vessels were selling at four times their former book 
value. It was claimed, furthermore, that every shipyard 
in the world was booked ahead for four years. Such were 
the conditions when the House a second time sent its 
Shipping Bill to the Senate. 



CHAPTER XX 
THE NEED OF INDUSTRIAL PREPAREDNESS 

The one distinct purpose that President Wilson had 
at the beginning of his administration was "to set the 
business of the country free — hence the new tariff, the 
Federal Reserve Act, the Anti-Trust Laws and Govern- 
ment regulation of business by Commission. But when 
this great program was begun the world was at peace, 
and the needful thing to be done was to restore the rule 
of right and justice in the nation. However, eighteen 
months after the outbreak of the war America had be- 
come first as the supply nation of the world, a new era 
was at hand, and President Wilson declared that "our 
thought is now inevitably of new things about which 
formerly we gave ourselves little concern. We are now 
thinking chiefly of our relations with the rest of the 
world." 

American business, however, had not yet formed the 
concept of the world as a trade unit. That was perhaps 
duo, for the most part, to the fact that America is a young 
nation, and our resources are so vast, that from the time 
of the Declaration of Independence to the present our 
business men have been engaged in developing the re- 

441 



442 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

sources at hand, rather than in seeking new fields abroad. 
The great combinations and corporations that the people 
complained of drew their wealth from exploiting the 
resources of this continent for the use of a comparatively 
few individuals. No other nation produced so much 
per capita wealth within its own borders. 

It is well known today that Great Britain is mistress 
of the seas and her industries touch every nation of every 
continent of the globe. But England's land has been in 
the hands of enlightened people for many centuries. The 
territory of England and Wales is about the size of North 
Carolina but her population is about 40,000,000, or nearly 
one-half the population of Continental United States. It 
was necessary for other countries to furnish resources for 
the inhabitants of England to develop. Such conditions 
made the Englishman cosmopolitan commercially. How- 
ever, the United States had more resources than her own 
inhabitants could develop within a century. There was 
no necessity apparently for Americans to seek oppor- 
tunities in other lands. Therefore, Americans, with 
a few exceptions, became provincial commercially. 

Notwithstanding these facts our business men have 
been short sighted. The lack of a merchant marine was 
a striking evidence of our short-sightedness, and the neg- 
lect of our bankers to establish banks in foreign countries 
to meet the demands of an international currency or 
foreign exchange was a proof of our provincialism. 
Therefore, it was not enough to set business free in the 



INDUSTRIAL PKKl'AKKDNESS 443 

nation. It was necessary to project it forward in the 
world so that it might lose its provincialism, that it might 
have a better perspective, and that it might be able to 
form the necessary concept of the world as our trade unit. 
For this great opportunity American business needed to 
find its second wind. 

Even before the outbreak of the war the great indus- 
trial organizations, instead of keeping large numbers of 
paid lobbyists at the door of Congress as of old, were 
learning to go openly and direct to the White House for 
advice. The safest way to the heart of Congress was 
found to be through the White House. 

Moreover, after the outbreak of the war, the large 
industrial organizations seemed to have adopted the 
policy of meeting in Washington in order to have the 
counsel of the Administration. Every phase of our indus- 
trial life felt the need of sympathy and the moral sup- 
port of the people. How to mobilize our resources for 
this new opportunity was the great problem. 

The American Electric Railway Association met in 
Washington, January 29, 1915; President Wilson was 
its guest and he assured its members that ' ' we are upon 
the eve of a new era of enterprise and prosperity." 
Although subsequent events have proved that the Presi- 
dent knew what he was talking about, captains of in- 
dustry shook their heads, and the press in many sections 
of the country asked to be shown the proof of his state- 
ment. Many men besides the President, however, were 



444 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

aware of this fact, that unless the business of the country 
could get more life and courage into it, the European 
war would really be disastrous to America. The Presi- 
dent, therefore, took this opportunity to arouse the busi- 
ness men of the nation : 

"Enterprise," he declared, "has been checked 
in this country for almost twenty years, because 
men were moving among a maze of interrogation 
points. They did not know what was going to 
happen to them. All sorts of regulations were 
proposed, and it was a matter of uncertainty 
what sort of regulation was going to be adopted." 

He then directed the attention of the business men of 
the country to the future and to the pressing needs grow- 
ing out of the war. He urged them to go forward. 
"Nobody henceforth," he said, "will be afraid of or 
suspicious of any business merely because it is big." 
The new Anti-trust laws had marked out the way fo<: 
business and the Federal Trade Commission stood ever 
ready to point out the pitfalls, and there was no reason 
why "the mists and miasmic airs of suspicion that have 
filled the business world have not been blown away." 

Moreover, he assured the people of this country that 
no individual or enterprise is going "to be barred from 
the contest" because it is big and strong and no one is 
"going to be penalized because you are big and strong." 



[INDUSTRIAL PREPAREDNESS 44.") 

President "Wilson believed that American business 
should take the world for its parish and that the directors 
of American business should take courage and launch 
forward into these many new fields. He was greatly con- 
cerned now over dispelling all suspicions, and this ad- 
dress had considerable effect. Although it contained 
little that was new. it was now delivered at the psycho- 
logical moment. It was what business men wanted to 
hear, for they wanted to launch forward now as much 
as they did not want to when the anti-trust bills were 
before the Congress. 

A new temper seemed to be noticeable everywhere. 
There was a return of business activity. The war orders 
were giving new life to trade, and America was just 
beginning to adjust itself to the new conditions and to 
look to the future. The President's words, therefore, 
were encouraging. 

While this address was still fresh in the minds of the 
people, another great business carried its National Asso- 
ciation to Washington. This was the United States 
Chamber of Commerce which assembled at the Capitol on 
February 3. The President was its guest likewise, and 
he had reserved for that occasion a declaration which 
was in some respects more important, perhaps, than any 
other that he had delivered. Just before the outbreak of 
the European war he stood in Independence Hall, 
Philadelphia, and declared that "liberty does not 
consist in mere general declarations of the rights of 



446 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

man. It consists in the translation of these declarations 
into definite action." And in this address he gave a 
liberal translation of former declarations meet for 
present action. The times demanded it, and his patrio- 
tism prompted it. After discussing the many ways that 
the Government of the United States was aiding and 
could aid the people, he drove straight to the mark 
and literally astonished the industrial world and the 
entire nation by his frank utterances, coming as they 
did so soon after the passage of the anti-trust laws. 

"There is a specific matter about which I, for 
one, want your advice," he began. "Let me say, 
if I may say it without disrespect, that I do not 
think you are prepared to give it right away. 
You will have to make some rather extended 
inquiries before you are ready to give it. 

"What I am thinking of is competition in for- 
eign markets as between the merchants of dif- 
ferent nations. I speak of the subject with a 
certain degree of hesitation, because the thing 
farthest from my thought is taking advantage 
of nations now disabled from playing their full 
part in that competition and seeking a sudden 
selfish advantage because they are for the time 
being disabled. Pray, believe me, that we ought 
to eliminate all that thought from our minds 



INDUSTRIAL PRLTAKKDXKSS 447 

and consider this matter as if we and the other 
nations were in the normal circumstances of 
commerce." 

The anti-trust laws had one great purpose — to destroy 
monopoly in America and restore competition. However, 
when American business began to wake up to the pos- 
sibilities of foreign trade, it was discovered that the 
anti-trust laws in providing for competition at home, 
seemed to make it impossible for American business to 
combine and compete with foreign business. This was 
the point that the President was coming to in his 
address. 

"There is a normal circumstance of com- 
merce," he said, "in which we are apparently at 
a disadvantage. Our anti-trust laws apparently — 
I say apparently, because I see the Attorney 
General is present, and I am not sure I am 
right — the anti-trust laws of the United States 
apparently make it illegal for merchants in the 
United States to form combinations for the pur- 
pose of strengthening themselves in taking ad- 
vantage of the opportunities of foreign compe- 
tition. 

"That is a very serious matter, for this 
reason: There are some corporations, and some 



448 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

firms for all I know, whose business is great 
enough and whose resources are abundant enough 
to enable them to establish selling agencies in 
foreign countries, to enable them to extend the 
long credits which in some cases are necessary in 
order to keep the trade they desire ; which enables 
them in other words, to organize their business 
in foreign territory in a way which the smaller 
man cannot afford to do. His business has not 
grown big enough to permit him to establish 
selling agencies. The export commission mer- 
chants, perhaps, tax him a little too high to make 
that an available competitive means of conducting 
and extending his business. 

"The question arises, therefore, how are the 
smaller merchants, how are the younger and 
weaker corporations, going to get a foothold as 
against the combinations which are permitted and 
even encouraged by foreign governments in this 
very field of competition? There are govern- 
ments which, as you know, distinctly encourage 
the formation of great combinations in any 
particular field of commerce in order to maintain 
selling agencies and to extend long credits and 
to use and maintain the machinery which is 
necessary for the extension of business. 



INDUSTRIAL PREPAREDNESS 449 

"American merchants feel that they arc at a 
very considerable disadvantage in contending 
against that. The matter lias been many times 
brought to my attention, and I have each time 
suspended judgment, because in this matter 'I 
am from Missouri,' and I want to be shown this: 
I want to be shown how that combination can 
be made and conducted in a way which won't 
close it against the use of everybody who wants 
to use it. A combination lias a tendency to 
exclude new members. 

"When a group of men get control of a good 
thing, they do not see any particular point in 
letting other people into the good thing. What 
I should like very much to be shown, therefore, 
is a method of cooperation which is not a 
method of combination — not that the two words 
arc mutually exclusive, but we have come to have 
a special meaning attached to the word 'com- 
bination.' Most of our combinations have a 
safety lock, and you have to get the combination 
to get in. I want to know how these cooperative 
methods can be adopted for the benefit of every- 
body who wants to use them, and I say frankly, 
if I can be shown that, I am for them. If I 
cannot be shown that, and I hasten to add that I 



450 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

hope — fully expect — that I can be shown that, I 
am against them. You, as I have just now 
intimated, probably cannot show it to me oft* hand, 
but, by the method that you have the means of 
using, you certainly ought to be able to throw 
a vast deal of light upon it." 

The President very frankly told the business men of 
the nation that ''our anti-trust laws apparently" place 
our merchants at a disadvantage in competing with 
European business in foreign fields. Merchants had dis- 
cussed the matter many times with him, and he was 
aware of the fact that business men really felt, that they 
were "at a very considerable disadvantage." 

The foreign business of all nations has been practically 
made over within the past two decades, during which 
time American business has been in sharp conflict with 
the American government, not with foreign business, 
and many men had reached the conclusion that the con- 
flict (sometimes it was called persecution) was due to 
the government 's fear of the size of business rather than 
to the methods of business. But when the European 
war threw the burden of the world's business on the 
shoulders of Americans, it was readily seen that our 
domestic policy was insufficient, and that the old laws 
must be modified so that American shoulders could bear 
the burden. Either this, or we must remain provincials. 
Tf necessary, the tariff laws and the anti-trust laws should 



INDUSTRIAL PREPAREDNESS 451 

be so amended as to make it possible for American busi- 
ness to compete with foreign business, not merely to 
cover the period of the present great war, but especially 
to be prepared to do at least the part of a great nation 
in the world's business at the close of the war. The 
anti-trust laws that were framed to restore competition 
in America w r ere needful. But they must now be so 
shaped that America could compete fairly with the 
rest of the world. 

When this address was delivered, President Wilson was 
completing the first half of his administration. We were 
then in the midst of world affairs of such magnitude that 
old rules wereiinadequate and new adjustments were very 
necessary, and he was declaring that he was willing to 
start any readjustments if he could be shown the right 
way. It fired his patriotism to think of Americans lead- 
ing in the world's business, and he became impatient 
when he beheld what seemed to him to be the indifference 
of Americans to the great opportunity. 

The 63d Congress came to a close on March 4, 1915. 
Military preparedness, commercial preparedness and 
industrial preparedness were the great issues that were 
ruining before the nation. But there was to be no more 
legislation for nine months. Meanwhile, the industrial 
life was on the rebound. An unusual buoyancy was 
noticeable everywhere. The Department of Com- 
merce was maintaining traveling specialists abroad 
to study foreign tariffs and foreign trade, and 



452 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

Mr. Redfield, the, Secretary of Commerce, work- 
ing in cooperation with commercial organizations 
in America, was seeking to direct American busi- 
ness into foreign fields. However, he learned 
what Mr. Wilson had feared, that "the present law 
plays into the hands of the larger concerns and shuts 
out smaller ones from important markets" and Mr. Red- 
field advised that "provisions should be made whereby 
such concerns may, with due safeguards against 
monopoly, cooperate in the foreign field. To refuse this 
for fear of monopoly is to say that the larger concerns 
shall alone hold the lucrative foreign markets and that 
the far larger number of smaller houses shall be shut 
out." Moreover, it was a growing conviction that even 
the large concerns would not be able to compete suc- 
cessfully with European business unless the laws of 
America were so modified as to place American business 
on an equal footing with European business. 

America now had little competition, to speak of, and 
the volume of American foreign business was limited to 
the capacity of the carrying vessels of the seas. But 
when peace should come, and the war orders were all 
stopped, and the nations of Europe should re-enter the 
world's commerce with their advantageous laws to aid 
them, the President and the business men of this nation 
felt that America should be prepared for the emergency. 
Therefore, industrial preparedness had become a real 
issue when the f>4th Congress convened on December 7, 



INDUSTRIAL PREPAREDNESS 453 

1915. President Wilson, then, very frankly told Con- 
gress that the time had eume for America to mobilize 

her resources. 

"While we speak of the preparation of the 
nation to make sure of her security and her 
effective power," he said, "we must not fall into 
the patent error that her real strength comes 
from armaments and mere safeguards of written 
law. It comes, of course, from her people, their 
energy, their success in their undertakings, their 
free opportunity to use the natural resources of 
our great home land and of the lands outside 
our continental borders which look to us for 
protection, for encouragement, and for assist- 
ance in their development; from the organiza- 
tion and freedom and vitality of our domestic 
life. The domestic questions which engaged the 
attention of the last Congress are more vital 
to the nation in this its time of test than at any 
other time. We cannot adequately make ready 
for any trial of our strength unless we wisely 
and promptly direct the force of our laws into 
these all-important fields of domestic action. A 
matter which it seems to me we should have very 
much at heart is the creation of the right instru- 



454 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

mentalities by wliich to mobilize our economic 
resources in any time of national necessity." 

He then spoke of his authority to ' ' call into systematic 
consultation" men of recognized leadership to bring 
about prompt cooperation of manufacturers and those 
who possess technical skill in order to aid the Government 
in the solution of particular problems of defense. But 
he added : 

"What is more important is, that the industries 
and resources of the country should be available 
and ready for mobilization. It is the more im- 
peratively necessary, therefore, that we should 
promptly devise means for doing what we have 
not yet done: that we should give intelligent 
federal aid and stimulation to industrial voca- 
tional education, as we have long done in the 
large field of our agricultural industry; that, at 
the same time that we safeguard and conserve 
the natural resources of the country we should 
put them at the disposal of those who will use 
them promptly and intelligently, as was sought 
to be done in the admirable bills submitted to the 
last Congress from its committees on the public 
lands, bills which I earnestly recommend in prin- 
ciple to your consideration; that we should put 



[NDUSTRIAL PREPAREDNESS 455 

into early operation some provision for rural 
credits which will add to the extensive borrow- 
ing facilities already afforded the farmer by the 
Eeserve Bank Act, adequate instrumentalities by 
which long credits may be obtained on land mort- 
gages; and that we should study more carefully 
than they have hitherto been studied the right 
adaptation of our economic arrangements to 
changing conditions. 

"Many conditions about which we have repeat- 
edly legislated are being altered from decade to 
decade, it is evident, under our very eyes, and 
are likely to change even more radically and more 
rapidly in the days immediately ahead of us, 
when peace has returned to the world and the 
nations of Europe once more take up their tasks 
of commerce and industry with the energy of 
those who must bestir themselves to build anew. 
Just what these changes will be no one can cer- 
tainly foresee or confidently predict. There are 
no calculable, because no stable, elements in 
the problem. The most we can do is to make 
certain that we have the necessary instrumentali- 
ties of information constantly at our service so 
that we may be sure that we know exactly what 
we are dealing with when we come to act, if it 



456 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

should be necessary to act at all. We must first 
certainly know what it is that we are seeking to 
adapt ourselves to." 

America was so affected by the war that it was exceed- 
ingly difficult for the people of this nation to take a clear 
perspective of any important policy. Business was full 
of energy, but it seemed to be unable to project itself in 
medias res. Apparently it was content to handle the 
business that came to our shores; and, to be sure, that 
was enormous. At the same time the conditions pre- 
sented a gloomy outlook to those who were students of 
economic forces. Our balance of trade was enormous. 
But even a balance of trade might be an evil. Moreover, 
the nation was making little preparation to protect our 
markets against a fierce foreign competition at the end 
of the war, and business was slow to venture from our 
shores. This gloomy outlook caused the President, there- 
fore, to take the whole matter to the people. A few days 
after he delivered the above message to Congress, he was 
the guest of the Chamber of Commerce of Columbus, 
Ohio (December 10) and, there, he spoke, again, some 
very plain words to the business men of America. 

He referred briefly to the history of American 
commerce and then said: "We seem deliber- 
ately to have chosen to be provincial, to shut our- 
selves in upon ourselves, to exploit our own 



[NDUSTRIAL PREPAREDNESS 457 

resources for our own benefit, rather tlian for 
the benefit of the rest of the world, and we did 
not return to address ourselves to foreign com- 
merce until our domestic development had so 
nearly burst its jacket that there was no straight- 
jacket in which it could be confined." 

Then he spoke of the crying need for an outlet into 
the currents of the world. But he said there was some- 
thing more to be done than to modify the anti-trust laws. 
American business must have a new spirit. It must lose 
its provincialism. 

" Until the recent banking act," he said, "you 
could not find, so far as I am informed, a branch 
of an American bank anywhere outside of the 
United States, whereas other nations of the world 
were doing their banking business on foreign 
shores through the instrumentality of their own 
bankers. I was told at a meeting of the American 
Bankers Association that much of the foreign 
banking business, the business in foreign ex- 
change, had to be done in our ports by branches 
of Canadian banks established among ourselves. 
Being literalists, we interpreted the national 
hanking act to mean, since it did not say that 
the national banks could engage in this business, 



458 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

that they could not engage in it, and some of the 
natural, some of the necessary functions of bank- 
ing were not performed by American bankers. 

"I refer to this merely as an evidence of what 
I take to call our provincialism. Moreover, dur- 
ing this period this very interesting thing has 
happened, that American business men were so 
interested to be protected against the competition 
of other business men in other countries that 
they proceeded by organization to protect them- 
selves against each other and engaged in the 
politics of organization rather than in the states- 
manship of enterprise." 

He then spoke of the value of organization in business. 
But he said that the only legitimate object of organiza- 
tion is efficiency. Any other makes it illegal. He then 
directed the attention of his hearers to the future. 

"It looks as if we would be the reserve force 
of the world," he said, "in respect to financial 
and economic power. It looks as if in the days 
of reconstruction and recuperation which are 
ahead of Europe we would have to do many of 
the things, many of the most important things 
which have hitherto been done through European 
instrumentalities. No man can say just how 



INDUSTRIAL PREPAREDNESS 459 

these matters are going to shape themselves, 
but every man can see that the opportunity of 
America is going to be unparalleled and that the 
resources of America must be put at the service 
of the world as they were never put at its service 
before. 

1 'Therefore, it is imperative that no impedi- 
ments should be put in the way of commerce 
with the rest of the world. You cannot sell unless 
you buy. Commerce is only an exalted kind of 
I tarter. The bartering may not be direct, but 
directly or indirectly it is an exchange of com- 
modities and the payment of the balances; and, 
therefore, there must be no impediments to the 
free flow of the currents of commerce back and 
forth between the United States, upon which 
the world will in part depend, and the other 
countries which she must supply and serve." 

It might be necessary to modify the anti-trust laws 
and it might be wise to establish a tariff board. lint 
whatever step was necessary, he wanted this nation to 
take it. However, it did have one instrumentality in 
the new banking law "such as this has never bad before 
for the ebb and flow and free course of the national 
process of credit." And he added "for the first time 
we are not bound up in an inelastic currency. Our credit 



460 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

is current and that current will run through all the chan- 
nels of commerce in every part of the world." 

"America now may take peaceful conquest of 
the world," he concluded, "and I say that with 
all the greater confidence, gentlemen, because I 
believe, and hope that the belief does not spring 
merely from hope, that when the present great 
conflict in Europe is over, the world is going 
to wear a different aspect. I do not believe that 
there is going to be any patched-up peace. I 
believe that thoughtful men of every country and 
of every sort will insist that, when we get peace 
again, we shall have guarantees that it will 
remain, and that the instrumentalities of justice 
will be exalted above the instrumentalities of 
force. I believe that the spirit which has hitherto 
reigned in the hearts of Americans and in like 
people everywhere in the world, will assert itself 
once for all in international affairs, and that if 
America preserves her poise, preserves her self- 
possession, preserves her attitude of friendliness 
toward all the world, she may have the privilege, 
whether in one form or another, of being the 
mediating influence by which these things may 
be induced. 



[NDUSTRIAL PREPAREDNESS 4(51 

"I am not now speaking of governmental 
mediation. 1 haven't it in mind at all. 1 mean 
the spiritual mediation. I mean the recognition 

of the world that here is a country that has 
always wanted things done that way, and whose 
merchants, when they carry their goods, will 
carry their ideas along with them, and thai 
this spirit of give and take, this spirit of success, 
only by having better goods and better brains 
and better training will, through their influences, 
spread the more rapidly to the ends of the world. 
This is what I mean by the mediating influence 
thai I think American commerce will exert. 

"So I challenge you, and men throughout the 
United States like you, to apply your minds to 
your business as if you were building up tor 
the world a great constitution of the United 
States, as if you were going out in the spirit 
of the service and achievement — the kind of 
achievement that comes only through service, 
the kind of achievement which is statesmanship, 
the statesmanship of those arrangements which 
are most serviceable to the world. 

"As you do this, the American spirit, whether 
it be labeled so or not, will have its conquesl 
far and wide, and when we come back from our 



462 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

long voyage of trade, we will not feel that we 
have left strangers behind us, but that we have 
left friends behind us, and come back home to 
sit by the fireside and speak of the common kin- 
ship of all mankind." 

This was the President's "vision of a democracy." 
But in the long journey from the simple life of provincial 
traders to the realization of the vision of a peaceful con- 
quest of the world, an intelligent beginning had to be 
made. 

The 64th Congress had convened. But military pre- 
paredness and commercial preparedness were the two 
great problems to be solved first. The European war was 
bringing in an era of new opportunities for American 
business with possibilities so vast that old domestic rules 
and old provincial habits were wholly inadequate. Under 
the pressure of these new forces, the President had asked 
the members of a great business organization to give him 
more light on the subject of domestic and foreign busi- 
ness. Moreover, he was pressing Congress to pass the 
Rural Credit Bill which had been considered in one 
form or another since the Federal Reserve Bill was 
before Congress. The new era demanded that the 
agricultural forces should be prepared to mobilize their 
resources, and the bill was framed to give them relief 
and set them forward. 



INDUSTRIAL PREPAREDNESS 463 

By January, 1916, it was apparent that a groat 
economic revolution was going on in the world. 

"No man understands that revolution," lie de- 
clared. "No man has the elements of it clearly 
in his mind. No part of the business of legisla- 
tion with regard to international trade can be 
undertaken until we do understand it. And mem- 
bers of Congress are too busy, their duties are 
too multifarious and distracting to make it pos- 
sible within a sufficiently short space of time for 
them to mark the change that is coming." 

It had become quite clear to him, therefore, that the 
government should create a board whose sole business 
would be "to provide the Government with the necessary 
data to furnish a sound basis for the policy which should 
he pursued in the years immediately ahead of us." 
Industrial preparedness was being discussed through- 
out the nation. Therefore, on January 24, 1916, he 
wrote to Mr. Claude Kitchin, chairman of the Ways 
and Means Committee of the House of Representatives, 
a long letter in which he gave his views on the matter, 
and made some recommendations for Congress to 
consider. 

"In common, I dare say, with every one who 
wishes to be thoughtful of 11k- future economic 



464 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

prosperity and development of the country," the 
letter began, "I have been thinking a great deal 
recently about what it would be wise to do to 
provide the Government with the necessary data 
to furnish a sound basis for the policy which 
should be pursued in the years immediately 
ahead of us, years which will no doubt be full 
of many changes which it is impossible at the 
present time for even the most prescient to 
forecast; and the more I have thought about the 
matter, the plainer it has become to me that we 
ought to have some such instrumentality as 
would be supplied by a Tariff Board. 

"I am convinced, as I suppose every disinter- 
ested person must be, that it would be a mistake 
to provide for such a board with the idea of serv- 
ing any particular theory of fiscal policy. What 
we would need would be, above all things else, 
a board as much as possible free from any strong 
prepossession in favor of any political party, 
and capable of looking at the whole economic 
situation of the country with a dispassionate and 
disinterested scrutiny. 

"I believe that we could obtain such a board 
if the proper legislation were enacted, and it is 
quite clear to me what the field of its inquiry 



INDUSTRIAL PR KP A REDNESS 465 

and activity should bo. It should, it seems to me, 
investigate the administrative and fiscal effects 
of the customs laws now in force or hereafter 
enacted; the relations between the rates of duty 
on raw materials and those on finished or half 
finished products; the effects of ad valorem and 
specific duties, and the classifications of the 
articles of the several schedules; the provisions 
of law and the rates and regulations of the 
Treasury Department regarding entiy, appraise- 
ment, invoices, and collection; and in general the 
working of the customs tariff laws in economic 
effect and administrative method. 

"It could and should also secure facts which 
would be very useful to the administrative offi- 
cers of the Government, to the Congress, and to 
the public at large, through investigations of 
revenues derived from customs duties and the 
articles subject to duty, the cost of collection 
thereof, and the revenue collected from the cus- 
toms duties at the several ports of entry; and 
it should be directed to investigate and throw 
light from every possible angle on the tariff rela- 
tions between the United States and foreign 
countries, the rates of duty imposed on American 
products in foreign countries, the existence and 



466 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

effects of discriminating duties, commercial 
treaties and preferential provisions and the 
effects of any special or discriminating duties that 
may he levied by the United States. It might 
in this connection furnish the State Department 
with very valuable information regarding treaty 
and tariff relations between the United States 
and foreign countries. 

"It might further be of great assistance to the 
Congress, and to the public, and to American 
industry by investigating the industrial effects of 
proposed or existing duties on products which 
compete with products of American industry; 
the conditions of competition between American 
and foreign producers, including all the essential 
facts surrounding the production of commodities 
at home and abroad; the volume of importation 
compared with domestic production; the nature 
and causes of the advantages and disadvantages 
of American as compared with foreign producers ; 
and the possibility of establishing new industries 
or of expanding industries already in existence 
through scientific and practical processes in such 
a manner as substantially to promote the pros- 
perity of the United States. 

"I think it would be very useful and, indeed, 



[NDUSTRIAL PREPAREDNESS 467 

necessary to require the board to act in connec- 
tion with all appropriate agencies already in 
existence in the several departments of the Gov- 
ernment, and even with appropriate agencies out- 
side of the existing departments in order to avoid 
so far as possible duplications of work and to 
make all sources of official information avail- 
able to the same end. 

"If broadly enough empowered, such a board 
might be very helpful in securing the facts on 
which to base an opinion as to unfair methods 
and circumstances of competition between foreign 
and domestic enterprises, and as to the possibili- 
ties and dangers of the unfair "dumping" of 
foreign products upon the American market, and 
the steps requisite and adequate to control and 
prevent it. It might in this field, as well as in 
others, secure very valuable information for the 
guidance of American Consuls, and for the use 
of the Board of General Appraisers and other 
Treasury officials. 

"I have gone into these particulars because 
I felt that they would make clearer than I 
could make it in general phrases my idea of the 
field of unpartisan inquiry within which such 
commission could render a useful and perhaps 



468 YVOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

indispensable service to the country, and I am 
taking the liberty of bringing the matter to 
your attention just at this time because I hope 
it will be possible for the Committee of Ways 
and Means of the House of Eepresentatives to 
take this question up immediately with a view of 
formulating some policy and action concerning 
it. I feel confident that you will agree with me 
that the situation of the whole world in the 
matter of economic development is so unusual, 
and our own interest in the changes probably 
impending so vital, that I am justified in pressing 
this great topic upon the consideration of the 
committee at this time." 

When the tariff bill was before Congress, and even 
after the tariff legislation was completed, there was a 
strong demand for a Tariff Board. But the President 
opposed it ; because, as he explained, he wished the con- 
troversy to end as soon as the bill became a law, and he 
believed then that the "purpose of a Tariff Board was 
to keep alive an unprofitable controversy. ' ' He explained 
further that the very "men who were dinning it into 
our ears that what business wanted was to be let alone, 
were, many of them, men who were insisting that we 
should start up a controversy that meant that we could 
not let it alone." However, two days after explaining 



INDUSTRIAL PREPAREDNESS 459 

to Mr. Kitchin why "some such instrumentality as would 
be supplied by a Tariff Board" should be created, he 
wrote a second letter to the House Leader, explaining 
somewhat in detail why he had changed his mind : 

''Our conversation yesterday made me realize 
thai in my letter of the 24th I had not set forth 
as I should have set them forth my reasons for 
changing my mind on the question of creating a 
Tariff Board, for I must frankly admit that I 
have changed my mind since, I last spoke on 
that, subject. 

"I have changed my mind because all the 
circumstances of the world have changed, and 
it seems to me that in view of the extraordinary 
and far-reaching changes which the European war 
lias brought about, it is absolutely necessary that 
we should have a competent instrument of in- 
quiry along the whole line of the many questions 
which al't'ect our foreign commerce. 

"I have had in this change of mind no thought 
whatever of a change of attitude toward the 
so-called protective question. That is neither 
here nor there. A commission such as I have 
suggested would have nothing to do with theories 
of policy. They would deal only with facts, and 



470 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

the facts which they would seek ought to be the 
actual facts of industry, and of the conditions of 
economic exchange prevailing in the world, so 
that legislation of every kind which touched these 
matters might be guided by the circumstances 
disclosed in its inquiries. 

"I dare say you feel as I do, that it would 
be folly at this time, or until all the altered con- 
ditions are fully understood, to attempt to deal 
with questions of foreign commerce by legisla- 
tion, and yet having dealt directly and clearly 
with the whole question of unfair competition 
without our own borders, it is clear as soon 
as we know the facts we ought to deal with 
unfair methods of competition as between our 
own nation and others, and this is only one of 
the many things that we would probably wish 
to deal with. The other matters I have attempted 
to indicate in my previous letter to you. I am 
glad to supplement that letter by this explicit 
statement of the considerations which have been 
most influential with me." 

He then called Mr. Kitchin's attention to his 
last message to Congress, in which he stated 
that he would "ask the privilege of addressing 



INDUSTRIAL I'KhTAKKDNESS 471 

you more at length on this important matter a little later 
in your session.'' Moreover, he quoted the paragraph 
from that address in which he declared that we must 
"know exactly what wo are dealing with when 
we come to act; we must first certainly know 
what it is that we are seeking to adapt ourselves 
to." And then lie concluded his letter with these 
words : 

"I need hardly say that I appreciate very fully 
the motives by which you are yourself actuated, 
and it is, therefore, with the greatest confidence 
that I lay the whole matter thus fully before you. 
Congress has so much to do at the present time 
that it is clearly impossible that it should be 
able to collect all the data which such a commis- 
sion would gather, and I feel that it would pres- 
ently find such a commission indispensable to it." 

He indicated in these two letters to Mr. Kitchin the 
steps that Congress should take in preparing this nation 
for a larger industrial life and for a world commerce. 
However, the part that Congress was to take in this 
great program was small in comparison to the work ahead 
of individuals, for, after all, he argued, the success must 
depend largely upon individual initiative and enter- 
prise. 



472 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

There was evidence everywhere that this initiative 
was at work. The Federal Trade Commission was 
besieged with requests from the business men of the 
United States for permission to cooperate in foreign 
trade. They had even discarded the old word, "com- 
bine," and were using the new word, "cooperate." 
The chairman of Federal Trade Commission in an ad- 
dress at New Orleans declared that eighty-five per cent 
of the thousands of replies "that we have received 
from the business men of the United States" asked 
for permission to combine for foreign trade. Then he 
said: 

"It is of serious and great interest to note that a very 
substantial part of those who declare that such cooper- 
ation should not only be permitted, but should be encour- 
aged, are equally emphatic that this situation should 
develop under Federal regulations, so as to assure not 
only that the domestic market and the domestic consumer 
should not thereby be prejudiced, but also that all Ameri- 
can manufacturers shall have fair play and equal oppor- 
tunity in foreign business." 

In February, the nation was aroused especially on the 
subject of military preparedness. But the President de- 
clared that "when we have settled this great question, as 
we presently shall, then we shall talk about these other 
matters." Meanwhile, he was pressing upon the Ways 
and Means Committee of the House the necessity of pre- 



INDUSTRIAL PREPAREDNESS 473 

senting a bill in accordance with the recommendations in 
his letter to Mr. Kitchin. 

Moreover, he was still pressing Congress to pass the 
Rural Credit Bill, and he repeated his convictions that 
it was necessary "to mobilize the economic forces of 
this country better than they ever have been mobilized 
before for the service of the world after this great war 
is over." 

Senators and Members, in response to this urgent 
request, assured him that the bill would become a law 
before the adjournment of Congress. Accordingly, on 
July 17, this very important act was carried to the 
White House for his approval. A group of Senators, 
Representatives, and officers of farmers' organizations 
assembled in the Executive Office to witness the final 
act necessary to give the farmers of the country a new 
credit system. Among those present who had been 
especially interested in the passage of the bill were 
David Lubin, one of the authors of the bill, and repre- 
sentatives of the National Grange, the Farmers Edu- 
cational and Cooperative Union, the Farmers Society 
of Equity, the Ancient Order of Gleaners, the Farmers 
National Congress, and the National Council of Farm- 
ers Cooperative Association. 

Just before signing the measure which creates a 
system of twelve land loan banks under the direction 
of a Federal board, the President made a short address, 



474 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

pointing out the benefits which he believed both farm- 
ers and the investing community would enjoy under 
its operation. 

1 1 On occasions of this sort, ' ' he said, ' ' there are 
so many things to say that one would despair of 
saying them briefly and adequately, but I cannot 
go through the simple ceremony of signing this bill 
without expressing the feeling that I have in sign- 
ing it. It is a feeling of profound satisfaction not 
only, but of real gratitude that we have completed 
this piece of legislation, which I hope will be 
immensely beneficial to the farmers of the country. 

"The farmers, it seems to me, have occupied 
hitherto a singular position of disadvantage. They 
have not had the same freedom to get credit on 
their real estate that others have had who were 
in manufacturing and commercial enterprises, and 
while they have sustained our life, they did not in 
the same degree with some others share in the 
benefits of that life. 

"Therefore, this bill, along with the very liberal 
provisions of the Federal Reserve act, puts them 
upon an equality with all others who have genuine 
assets, and makes the great credit of the country 
available to them. One cannot but feel that this is 



INDUSTRIAL PREPAREDNESS 475 

delayed justice to them, and cannot but feel that 
it is a very gratifying thing to play any part in 
doing this act of justice. 

"I look forward to the benefits of the bill, not 
with extravagant expectations, but with confident 
expectation that it will be a very wide-reaching 
benefit, and incidentally it will be of advantage to 
the investing community, for I can imagine no 
more satisfactory and solid investment than this 
system will afford those who have money to use. 

"I sign the bill, therefore, with real emotion, 
and am very glad to be honored by your presence, 
and supported by your feeling. I have no doubt 
in what I have said regarding it." 

The bill to create a United States Tariff Commis- 
sion Avas also before Congress. It provided for a Com- 
mission of six members, but not more than three should 
be members of the same party. Therefore, it was 
to be non-partisan, and the members, if the bill 
became a law, were to be appointed for a period 
of two, four, six, eight, ten and twelve years. The old 
tariff board was simply created by executive order and 
was authorized by executive order to expend a certain 
sum of money each year. This now bill proposed to 
create a distinct, independent commission with its 
duties well defined by law, and with its permanency 



476 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

absolutely assured. In outlining its duties, the com- 
mittee followed in the main the President's sugges- 
tions made to Mr. Kitchin. 

Thus, after nearly a generation, business and Govern- 
ment were cooperating on the basis of developing 
our own resources and encouraging a foreign trade 
that will give America industrial preparedness when 
the war closes. In this long generation of resistance, 
avoidance, and prosecutions, both Government and 
business have learned something, and each has taught 
the other much. 



CHAPTER XXI 

FORMIXC A TAX- AMERICAN UNION. 

President Wilson announced, eight days after his 
inauguration, that "one of the chief objects of my admin- 
istration will be to cultivate the friendship and deserve 
the confidence of our sister republics of Central and 
South America." The American people accepted that 
pronouncement as the expression of an idealist whose 
patriotism was exceedingly buoyant after an unusual 
election. However, few, if any, had the gift of prophecy 
to foretell the result of such a policy. But, nearly three 
years afterward, a great Pan-American Congress was 
sitting in Washington, and representatives of all the 
Republics of the two continents, bound together by ties 
of friendship and bearing gifts of great confidence to 
the chief executive of this nation, were working earnestly 
together for the domestic peace of the two Americas, 
and the international peace of the world based "upon the 
solid, eternal foundations of justice and humanity.'' 

The President's Pan-American policy before the out- 
break of the European war has been told in a previous 
chapter. Hut its effects were hardly definable on that 
fateful day when Austria declared war on Servia. How- 

477 



478 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

ever, the new impact of military forces in Europe shook 
the Western Hemisphere so violently that the twenty-one 
Republics looked immediately to one another for sym- 
pathy and assistance, and for a new bond of union. 

A Pan-American Union was a corollary to other issues 
such as military preparedness, commercial preparedness, 
and industrial preparedness. It was so related to 
every measure looking to better shipping facilities 
and to every scheme for strengthening our defense 
that even Congress was compelled to consider our 
relations to the Latin-American states while discussing 
these other great issues, although no direct legislation 
was necessary. 

But what were the real ties that bound these twenty- 
one Republics together at the outbreak of the war? The 
Monroe Doctrine was the strongest bond, but it was being 
assailed both in this country and in Europe. Citizens of 
the United States referred to it as "an anachronism of 
folly;" some said that it has "become only a disad- 
vantage to the United States" and we should "modify 
it." In Europe, it was declared that the efficiency of 
the Doctrine "will be proved by the distance that the 
guns of the United States can cover." Thus, in both 
Europe and America, this bond of union was being vig- 
orously attacked. 

The second tie that bound these twenty-one Republics 
together was trade and commerce. Since the United 
States was more powerful than all the other republics 



A PAN-AMERICAN UNION 479 

combined, it would be natural to suppose that the lines 
of trade and commerce between this country and each of 
the other states would be direct and very strong. How- 
ever, such was not the case. A large business was carried 
on between the two Americas, but strange as it may seem, 
the greater part of it was conducted through European 
ports. Therefore, the commercial ties that bound the 
two Americas together passed through European hands, 
and the strength of those ties was measured by the will- 
ingness of European bankers and traders to facilitate 
intercourse between the two Americas. We have already 
seen that European vessels carried over 90 per cent of 
American commerce, and the shortest route from New 
York to Rio or Buenos Aires was by way of Hamburg 
or Liverpool. Moreover, the financial transactions be- 
tween the two Americas was conducted not in American 
money or through American banks, but in European 
banks. The exchange was made in Europe, and the bal- 
ance of trade was settled in European coin. 

Furthermore, this long-distance union of the two 
Americas, made in the interest of European business and 
silently permitted through the negligence of American 
business, w;is encouraged by educational theorists; they 
.advised teachers of geography to follow trade lines in 
instructing the youth, and to lead the students from 
North America to Europe and from thence to South 
America. 

These were the very doubtful ties that bound the two 



480 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

Americas together when Woodrow Wilson began ' ' to cul- 
tivate the friendship and deserve the confidence" of the 
Latin-American states. Through this means he sought 
to preserve the Monroe Doctrine and to increase the 
commercial and financial intercourse between the two 
continents, and in this way create an irresistible Pan- 
American Union, in the interest, not of the United States 
solely, but of every republic in the two continents 
founded on constitutional government. 

The Latin- American states were the first to feel the 
effects of the President's new Pan-American policies, 
because the militaristic policies of European nations 
appeared more formidable to Latin-America than to the 
United States. A new declaration of independence for 
constitutional governments needed to be stated so 
strongly that every republic in the Western Hemisphere 
might feel secure in its independence, and every imperial- 
istic European nation might beware. The Latin-Ameri- 
can states were soon to see in President Wilson 's policies 
the outlines of this long hoped for declaration, and Latin- 
American writers noted them down with an eagerness 
that surprised the cool-headed Anglo-Saxon of North 
America. 

It is well to sum up here the articles of the Wilson 
Doctrine as applied to this hemisphere : The rule of 
right and justice shall be applied to business activities 
in America ; this government will not be a partner in 
any business enterprise in a foreign country that 



A PAN-AMERICAN UNION 481 

would be unlawful at homo; the United States is the 
friend of constitutional government in the two Ameri- 
cas; the republics of this hemisphere shall treat one 

another as equals, and each shall have the right to 
govern its internal affairs without interference from 
any other republic; the United States will never again 
seek an additional foot of territory by conquest; and 
one republic has a friendly interest in the other twenty, 
and it is the duty of all to guard and maintain the 
rights of each. 

This new declaration of independence for the "Western 
Hemisphere did not pass without a protest at home and 
much criticism in Europe. But, as Senor Leopold Lu- 
gones, a writer on political and economic questions of 
Argentina, declared just before the outbreak of the Euro- 
pean war, "The serenity with which President Wilson 
accepts the most severe criticism, even to the point of 
endangering the material prestige of the United States, 
is the best proof of the honesty of his idealistic policy," 
and "The Pan-American ideal, in countries where great 
natural obstacles created barriers, may not be realized for 
many years to come, but to Latin-America it is a noble 
aspiration." 

At the beginning of the European war it became very 
clear to Americans that Europe had dominated South 
America, because she controlled all the leading trade 
lines to South America and all the important interna- 
tional banking institutions of that continent. Hut these 



482 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

trade lines were partially destroyed by the war, and the 
whole financial system was thrown into confusion. The 
President's activity for better shipping facilities, the 
wisdom of which will appear more and more as our rela- 
tions to South America are studied, was followed immedi- 
ately by a call for a financial conference of the two con- 
tinents. The opportunity for service and the necessity 
for immediate action moved him, acting through the 
Secretary of the Treasury, to issue an invitation to all 
the Latin-American states to attend a Pan-American 
Financial Congress to be held at Washington, D. C, to 
confer with the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary 
of Commerce, Members of the Federal Reserve Board, 
and American bankers, in regard to improving the finan- 
cial relations between this country and Central and South 
America. When Congress convened in December, 1914, 
it appropriated $50,000 for the entertainment of the vis- 
itors as the guests of the nation. 

The republics of the two continents responded 
promptly and very cordially to the invitation, and when 
the Conference convened, May 24, 1915, every republic 
was represented except Mexico and Haiti. At the open- 
ing session President Wilson was present to welcome 
the official delegates from the other American repub- 
lics, and his utterances on that occasion were both 
reassuring and very significant. After a few introduc- 
tory remarks, he declared : 



A PAN-AMERICAN UNION 483 

"There can be no sort of union of interest, if 
there is a purpose of exploitation on the part of 
any person connected with a great conference of 
this sort. We are not, therefore, trying to make 
use of each other, but we are trying to be of use 
to one another. 

"It is very trying to me, it is even a source 
of mortification to me, that a conference like this 
should have been so long delayed, that it should 
never have occurred before, that it should have 
required a crisis of the world to show the Ameri- 
cans how truly they were neighbors to one an- 
other. If there is any one happy circumstance, 
gentlemen, arising out of the present distressing 
circumstance of the world, it is that it has 
revealed us to one another ; it has shown us what 
it means to be neighbors. And I cannot help har- 
boring the hope, the very high hope, that by this 
commerce of minds with one another, as well as 
commerce in goods, we may show the world, in 
part, the path to peace. 

"It would be a very great thing if the Ameri- 
cans could add to the distinction which they 
already wear, this of showing the way to peace, 
to permanent peace. The way to peace for us, 



484 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

at any rate, is manifest. It is the kind of rivalry 
which does not involve aggression. It is the 
knowledge that men can be of the greatest service 
to one another when the jealousy between them 
is merely a jealously of excellence and when the 
basis of their intercourse is friendship. There is 
only one way in which we wish to take advantage 
of you, and that is by making better goods, by 
doing the things that we seek to do for each 
other better, if we can, than you do them, and 
so spurring you on, if we might, by so handsome 
a jealousy as that to excel us. 

"I am so keenly aware that the basis of per- 
sonal friendship is this competition of excellence 
that I am perfectly certain that this is the only 
basis for the friendship of nations, this handsome 
rivalry, this rivalry in which there is no dislike, 
this rivalry in which there is nothing but the hope 
of a common elevation in great enterprise which 
we can undertake in common." 

He then spoke of the very great need of a merchant 
marine, how we must secure it if private capital does not 
undertake to build it, and what it would mean to the 
Latin-American states if we had direct lines of com- 
munication. Then he continued : 



A PAN-AMERICAN UNION 485 

"We cannot indefinitely stand apart and need 
each other for the lack of what can easily be 
supplied, and, if one instrumentality cannot 
supply it, then another must be found which 
will supply it. We cannot know each other unless 
we see each other; we cannot deal with each other 
unless we communicate with each other. So soon 
as we communicate and are on a familiar footing 
of intercourse with one another, we shall under- 
stand one another, and the bonds between the 
Americas will be such that no influence that the 
world may produce in the future will ever break 
them. 

"If I am selfish for America, I at least hope 
that my selfishness is enlightened. The selfish- 
ness that hurts the other party is not enlightened 
selfishness. If I am going upon a mere ground 
of selfishness, I would seek to benefit the other 
party and so tie him to myself that even if you 
were to suspect me of selfishness, I hope you 
will also suspect me of intelligence and of know- 
ing the only safe way for the establishment of 
the things which we covet, as well as the estab- 
lishment of the things which we desire and which 
we should feel honored if we could earn and win. 

"I have said these things because they will 



486 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

perhaps enable you to understand how far from 
formal my welcome to this body is. It is a wel- 
come from the heart, it is a welcome inspired by 
what I hope are the highest ambitions for those 
who live in these two great continents, who seek 
to set an example to the world in freedom of 
institutions, freedom of trade, and intelligence 
of mutual service." 

The purpose of the Conference as stated in the invita- 
tion was to confer about direct shipping facilities, direct 
banking facilities, and better commercial relations. 
This Conference, according to Mr. John Barrett, 
Director-General of the Pan-American Union, "marks 
the most important step in our relations with South 
America since Mr. Blaine presided over the first 
Conference of American republics in 1889," and this 
opinion was echoed by the press of the country. How- 
ever, the President's Shipping Bill, which had been pre- 
sented to Congress before its adjournment, and which 
was still a much talked of measure because it was certain 
to become a live subject in the 64th Congress, was so 
intimately related to the main object of the Conference 
that the partisan opponents of the Shipping Bill in Con- 
gress "were afraid that Mr. "Wilson might use the occa- 
sion to advance the administration's project for a gov- 
ernment owned merchant marine, a bill that Congress 
had failed to endorse." 



A PAN-AMERICAN UNION 487 

Although the partisan press was so sensitive to the 
tinkling cymbals of its foes that it could not hear the 
clear call to duty, the stable minded people of America 
saw in this conference the beginning of new relations 
between the two continents. Mr. Vanderlip, president 
of the National City Bank of New York, informed the 
Conference, and it was news to this nation as well, that 
the Federal Reserve Act and the great surplus of re- 
serves resulting in the national banks of the country, 
gave an unusual opportunity for the United States to 
engage in foreign loans, and as a result, the National 
City Bank of New York was taking advantage of the 
provisions in the Act to establish a branch bank in 
Buenos Aires. These words of President Vanderlip were 
the announcement of the beginning of a new era for 
American business in South America. 

European bankers had been in the habit of exacting 
large tolls from this country for the privilege of supply- 
ing Americans with capital to transact business in Cen- 
tral and South America. And Americans paid the heavy 
rates because American capital was not established there. 
This conference, however, created an international com- 
mission composed of representatives from each nation to 
study all financial problems pertaining to the American 
Republics, and to work out a way by which each might 
be a help to all. 

Within a few months about twenty American banks, 
it is said, were established in the Latin-American states, 



488 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

American capital was extending its arms into Central 
and South America and furnishing the means to market 
the chief articles of export from those countries to the 
United States. These new banking facilities, necessary- 
forerunners of trade development, were now taking into 
account heretofore neglected opportunities in the enor- 
mously rich countries immediately to the south of us. 
Private capital was losing its timidity, and ' ' a commerce 
of minds with one another" was producing a stronger 
bond of union, and "a whole hemisphere acting as a unit 
in sharp contradiction to Europe rent into hostile 
camps," was not impossible of realization. 

President Wilson, in turning more and more to the 
Latin-Americas for advice in the ever perplexing Mexican 
trouble, carried assurance to the Republics that the 
President was absolutely sincere in his efforts to see a 
real Pan-American Union working harmoniously and 
without suspicion for the maintenance of peace. He 
pointed out early in his administration that it is one 
thing to talk to and act for the South American people, 
but quite another thing to consult them for the purpose 
of cooperating, thereby securing unity of action. His 
policy of cooperation was clearing the air of suspicion 
and distrust, and whatever the final action may be in 
regard to Mexico, certainly, the first three years of 
cooperation has been productive of such good results 
to the two continents, that subsequent events can hardly 
affect that cordial support and good will that has grown 



A PAN-AMERICAN UNION 489 

out of this Pan-American policy; and a Pan-American 
Union is more desirable than armed intervention in 
.Mexico, even with peace south of the Rio Grande as a 
possible outcome. 

However, the President's policy was to secure peace 
in Mexico through the cooperative efforts of all the 
other American republics, rather than by acting alone. 
By this means he was weaving a cord more powerful 
than that made by trade and commerce and a chain of 
banks. It was a cord of mutual confidence and esteem 
that would strengthen all other bonds since they would 
be greatly reinforced by it. Therefore, while the press 
was complaining about the Mexican irritation, and annex- 
ationists were ridiculing the President's methods, the 
Administration was really perfecting a council board 
composed of the American Secretary of State and the 
diplomatic representatives at Washington of Argen- 
tina, Brazil, Chile, Bolivia, Uruguay, and Guatemala, to 
aid in settling vexatious matters in Mexico and other 
Latin-American countries. 

The great issues of the war were so closely related to 
the President's Pan-American policies that he devoted a 
large part of his message to this subject, not because any 
direct legislation was needed, but because every great 
American policy was dependent in some way upon a Pan- 
American Union. 



490 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

"There was a time," tie said, "in the early- 
days of our own great nation and of the republics 
fighting their way to independence in Central and 
South America when the government of the 
United States looked upon itself as in some sort 
the guardian of the republics to the south of 
her as against any encroachments or efforts at 
political control from the other side of the water ; 
felt it its duty to play the part without invitation 
from them; and I think that we can claim that 
the task was undertaken with a true and disin- 
terested enthusiasm for the freedom of the 
Americas and the unmolested self-government of 
her independent peoples. But it was always diffi- 
cult to maintain such a role without offense to the 
pride of the peoples whose freedom of action we 
sought to protect, and without provoking serious 
misconceptions of our motives, and every thought- 
ful man of affairs must welcome the altered cir- 
cumstances of the new day in whose light we now 
stand, when there is no claim of guardianship or 
thought of wards, but, instead, a full and honor- 
able association as of partners between ourselves 
and our neighbors, in the interest of all America, 
north and south. 

"Our concern for the independence and pros- 



A PAN-AMERICAN UNION 491 

perity of Central and South America is not 
altered. We retain unabated the spirit that has 
inspired us throughout the whole life of our 
government, and which was so frankly put into 
words by President Monroe. We still mean 
always to make a common cause of national 
independence and of political liberty in America. 
But that purpose is now better understood so 
far as it concerns ourselves. It is known not 
to be a selfish purpose. It is known to have in 
it no thought of taking advantage of any govern- 
ment in this hemisphere or playing its political 
fortunes for our own benefit. All the govern- 
ments of America stand, so far as we are con- 
cerned, upon a footing of genuine equality and 
unquestioned independence. ' ' 

He then spoke of that purpose as it was applied to 
Mexico, and he declared that our course in Mexico oughl 
to be sufficient proof to all America that we seek no 
political superiority or selfish control. 

"The moral is," he continued, "that the states 
of America are not hostile rivals, but cooperating 
friends, and that their growing sense of com- 
munity of interest, alike in matters political and 
in matters economic, is likely to give them a new 



492 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

significance as factors in international affairs 
and in the political history of the world. It 
presents them as in a very deep and true sense 
a unit in world affairs, spiritual partners, stand- 
ing together because thinking together, quick with 
common sympathies and common ideals. Sep- 
arated, they are subject to all the cross currents 
of the confused politics of a world of hostile 
rivalries; united in spirit and purpose, they can- 
not be disappointed of their peaceful destiny. 

' ' This is Pan- Americanism. It has none of the 
spirit of empire in it. It is the embodiment, the 
effectual embodiment, of the spirit of law, and 
independence, and liberty, and mutual service. 

"A very notable body of men recently met in 
the City of Washington at the invitation and as 
the guests of this Government, whose delibera- 
tions are likely to be looked back to as marking 
a memorable turning point in the history of 
America. They were representative spokesmen 
of the several independent states of this hemi- 
sphere, and were assembled to discuss the com- 
mercial and financial relations of the republics 
of the two continents which nature and political 
fortune have so intimately linked together. I 
earnestly recommend to your perusal the reports 



A PAN-AMERICAN UNION 493 

of their proceedings and of the actions of their 
committees. You will get from them, I think, a 
fresh conception of the ease and intelligence and 
advantage with which Americans of both con- 
tinents may draw together in practical coopera- 
tion, and of what this must consist — of how we 
should build them and of how necessary it is 
that we should hasten their building." 

National defense was a much debated subject when the 
message was delivered to Congress, and he pointed out 
again the relation of a great Pan-American Union to that 
question. 

"No one who really comprehends the spirit of 
the great people for whom we are appointed to 
speak can fail to perceive that their passion is 
for peace, their genius best displayed in the 
practice of the arts of peace. Great democracies 
are not belligerent. They do not seek or desire 
war. Their thought is of individual liberty and 
of the free labor that supports life, and the 
uncensured thought that quickens it. Conquest 
and dominion are not in our reckoning, or agree- 
able to our principles. 

"But just because we demand unmolested de- 
velopment and tin* undisturbed government of our 
own lives upon our own principles of right and 



494 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

liberty, we resent, from whatever quarter it may 
come, the aggression we ourselves will not prac- 
tice. We insist upon security in prosecuting our 
self-chosen lines of national development. We do 
more than that. We demand it also for others. 
We do not confine our enthusiasm for individual 
liberty and free national development to the 
incidents and movements of affairs which affect 
only ourselves. We feel it wherever there is a 
people that tries to walk in these difficult paths 
of independence and right. From the first we 
have made common cause with all partisans of 
liberty on this side of the sea, and have deemed 
it as important that our neighbors should be free 
from all outside domination as that we ourselves 
should be; and we have set America aside as a 
whole for the uses of independent nations and 
political freemen." 

President Wilson's Pan-American policies were giving 
a new meaning — an enlarged meaning — to the Monroe 
Doctrine, and when this message was delivered in Con- 
gress, the Western Hemisphere was about to witness a 
union of the two Americas, such as the Monroe Doctrine, 
nearly a century old, never anticipated. The old Monroe 
Doctrine was primarily a doctrine of defiance to Europe, 
and much of our military as well as diplomatic history 



A PAN-AMERICAN UNION 495 

is proof that suspicion and distrust were placed in the 
minds of the Latin states by our old interpretation of 
this doctrine. Mr. Albert Bushnell Hart said, "the best 
military authorities seem to be agreed that the Doctrine 
will lead to war if we adhere to it. . . . ; it is bound to 
Lead to war if any powerful nation is willing to risk 
war with us for the sake of what it may pick up in 
America." And many people in America believed the 
Doctrine was not worth fighting for. 

The wisdom of Mr. Wilson's policy, therefore, is ap- 
parent, and the necessity for a Pan-American Union on 
the basis of equality with all suspicion and mistrust dis- 
pelled from this hemisphere is a consummation that was 
hardly believed to be possible when the President deliv- 
ered his Mobile speech in October, 1913. However, it 
was quite evident before a year had passed that "the 
states of America have become more conscious of a new 
and vital community of interests and moral partnership 
in affairs, more clearly conscious of the many sympathies 
and interests which bid them stand together. ' ' And now 
that the President's statesmanship was beginning to bear 
fruit of great and lasting value to this hemisphere, not 
only this nation but the Latin-American states were 
declaring that the Monroe Doctrine was unfolding 
into a new doctrine — the Wilson Doctrine of Pan- 
Americanism. 

The President's address to Congress was well timed to 
be productive of still greater results. The second Tan- 



496 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

American Scientific Congress was to assemble in Wash- 
ington only a few weeks later during the Christmas holi- 
days. Although this Congress in its origin had one 
special purpose, as its name indicates, the discussions of 
science were subordinated to another more important 
topic. President Wilson 's assertion that ' ' all the govern- 
ments of America stand, so far as we are concerned, 
upon a footing of genuine equality and unquestioned 
independence, ' ' was the keynote of the whole Conference ; 
and Secretary Lansing, in welcoming the delegates to 
Washington, caught up this note which was sounded at 
every meeting and in almost every general address. 

"I speak only for the Government of the United 
States," said Secretary Lansing, "but in doing so I am 
sure that I express sentiments which will find an echo 
in every republic represented here, when I say that the 
might of this country will never be exercised in a spirit 
of greed to wrest from a neighboring state its territory 
or possessions. The ambitions of this Republic do not 
lie in the path of conquest, but in the paths of peace and 
justice. Whenever and wherever we can, we will stretch 
forth a hand to those who need help. If the sovereignty 
of a sister republic is menaced from overseas, the power 
of the United States and, I hope and believe, the united 
power of the American republics will constitute a bul- 
wark which will protect the independence and integrity 
of their neighbor from unjust invasion or aggression. 



A PAN-AMERICAN UNION 497 

The American family might well take for its motto that 
of Dumas' famous musketeers, 'One for all, all for one'." 

After assuring the members of the Congress of the 
need of "cooperation and helpfulness by a dignified 
regard for the rights of all, and by living our lives in 
harmony and good will," he laid out the metes and 
bounds of "Pan- Americanism" as the "expression of the 
idea of internationalism," and concluded with these 
significant words: 

"The path of opportunity lies plain before us Amer- 
icans. The Government and people of every republic 
should strive to inspire in others confidence and co- 
operation by exhibiting integrity of purpose and equity 
of action. Let us as members of this congress, therefore, 
meet together on the plane of common interests, and 
together seek the common good. "Whatever is of common 
interest, whatever makes for the common good, what- 
ever demands united effort is a fit subject for applied 
Pan-Americanism. Fraternal helpfulness is the key- 
stone to the arch. Its pillars are faith and justice. 

"In this great movement this congress will, I believe, 
play an exalted part. You, gentlemen, represent power- 
ful intellectual forces in your respective countries. To- 
gether you represent the enlightened thought of the 
continent. The policy of Pan-Americanism is practical. 
The Pan-American spirit is ideal. It finds its source 
and being in the minds of thinking men. It is the off- 



498 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

spring of the best, the noblest conceptions of inter- 
national obligation. 

"With all earnestness, therefore, I commend to you, 
gentlemen, the thought of the American republics, 
twenty-one sovereign and independent nations, bound 
together by faith and justice, and firmly cemented by a 
sympathy which knows no superior and no inferior, but 
which recognizes only fraternity and equality." 

Senator Elihu Root of New York, who, too, had the 
Pan-American spirit, in a very notable address before 
the Conference made a strong plea for the rights of 
small nations. 

' ' The great body of the people of the United States, ' ' 
he said, "loves justice enough to be willing to render 
it to others. We believe that nobility of spirit, that high 
ideals, that capacity for sacrifice are nobler than material 
wealth. We know that these can be found in the little 
state as well as in the big one. In our respect for you 
who are small and who are great there can be no element 
of condescension, for that would be to do a violence to 
our own conception of the dignity of independent sover- 
eignty. We desire no benefits which are not the benefits 
rendered by honorable equals to each other. We seek 
for no control that we are unwilling to concede to 
others." 

On January 1, greetings to the Pan- American Scientific 
Congress were received from the Chief Executives of 
most of the South American Republics; and without 



A PAN-AMERICAN UNION 499 

exception the tone of the New Year's greetings was one 
of friendliness and cooperation. Argentina's hope was 
for "A closer relationship"; Chile's great desire was for 
"the solidarity of all the peoples of America"; Para- 
guay's best wishes were for "the further unification of 
the moral interests of all America"; even Mexico ex- 
pressed the hope "that the Pan-American Scientific 
Congress may have complete success in its interesting 
task"; and all the republics expressed either directly, 
or through their representatives, the hope that the Con- 
gress would result in a greater union of American 
republics. 

It was not until near the close of the session, January 
6, that President Wilson was able to attend the Con- 
ference. His policies had given direction to its discus- 
sions, and his terse sentences had been the subjects of 
addresses delivered by Latin-American representatives. 
Therefore, his appearance was the signal for a great 
demonstration. He was introduced to the Congress by 
President Eduardo Suarez-Mujica, Ambassador of Chile, 
as a "statesman who has radically changed the nature 
of the relations among the people of this continent, and 
has built an American international policy of mutual 
esteem and cooperation, at this moment praised and 
applauded by the whole continent." 

The introduction was delivered in English, but, since 
many delegates were present from South America 
who could not readily understand that language, the 



500 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

Ambassador of Brazil translated the remarks into Span- 
ish amid great applause from the Latin-Americans. 

When Mr. Wilson arose to speak, he stood just in 
front of an artistic grouping of all the flags of all the 
republics of the two Americas — symbolic of the great 
Pan-American Union and the leadership of the President 
of the United States. It was amid such surroundings 
that he outlined more definitely than ever before his plan 
of union for the twenty-one republics. After expressing 
his regrets at being unable to attend the sessions of the 
Congress, and after felicitating that body on the great 
change that had come about in the relationships between 
the United States and the Latin- American states, he 
said : 

"The Monroe Doctrine was proclaimed by the 
United States on her own authority. It has 
always been maintained and alw T ays will be main- 
tained upon her own responsibility. But the 
Monroe Doctrine demanded merely that European 
Governments should not attempt to extend their 
political systems to this side of the Atlantic. It 
did not disclose the use which the United States 
intended to make of her power on this side of 
the Atlantic. It was a hand held up in warning, 
but there was no promise in it of what America 
w r as going to do with the implied and partial 



A PAN-AMERICAN IXION 501 

protectorate which she apparently was trying to 
set up on this side of the water, and I believe you 
will sustain me in the statement that it lias been 
fears and suspicions on this score which have 
hitherto prevented the greater intimacy and con- 
fidence and trust between the Americas. 

"The States of America have not been certain 
what the United States would do with her power. 
That doubt must be removed. And latterly there 
has been a very frank interchange of views 
between the authorities in Washington and those 
who represented the other States of this hemi- 
sphere, an interchange of views charming and 
hopeful, because based upon an increasingly sure 
appreciation of the spirit in which they were 
undertaken. These gentlemen have seen that if 
America is to come into her own, into her legiti- 
mate own, in a world of peace and order, she 
must establish the foundations of amity so that 
no one will hereafter doubt them. 

"I hope and I believe that this can be accom- 
plished. These conferences have enabled me to 
see how it will be accomplished. It will be accom- 
plished, in the first place, by the states of 
America uniting in guaranteeing to each other 
political independence and territorial integrity; 



502 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

in the second place, and as a necessary corollary 
to that, guaranteeing the agreement to settle all 
pending boundary disputes as soon as possible 
and by amiable process ; by agreeing that all dis- 
putes among themselves, should they unhappily 
arise, will be handled by patient, impartial in- 
vestigation and settled by arbitration; and the 
agreement, necessary to the peace of the Amer- 
icas, that no State on either continent will permit 
revolutionary expeditions against another State 
to be fitted out in its own territory, and that they 
will prohibit the exportation of the munitions of 
war for the purpose of supplying revolutionists 
against neighboring Governments. 

"You see what our thought is, gentlemen: not 
only the international peace of America, but the 
democratic peace of America. If American 
States are constantly in ferment, there will be 
a standing threat to their relations with one 
another. It is just as much to our interest to 
assist one another to the orderly processes within 
our own borders as it is to orderly processes in 
our controversies with one another. These are 
very practical suggestions which have sprung up 
in the minds of thoughtful men, and I, for my 
part, believe that they are going to lead the way 



A PAN-AM KKICAN I'XION 503 

to something that America has prayed for for 
many a generation. For they are based, in the 
first place, as far as the stronger states are con- 
cerned, upon the handsome principle of self- 
restraint and respect for the rights of everybody. 
They are based upon the principles of absolute 
political equality among the states, equality of 
right, not equality of indulgence. 

"They are based, in short, upon the solid, 
eternal foundations of justice and humanity. No 
man can turn away from these things without 
turning away from the hope of the world. These 
are things, ladies and gentlemen, for which the 
world has hoped and waited with prayerful heart. 
God grant that it may be granted to America to 
lift this light on high for the illumination of the 
world." 

The President's address was a fitting finale to the great 
conference. The remarks of the Representative of the 
Republic of Brazil reflected the sentiment of the dele- 
gates present in these words, "Freedom is a gift that is 
only given to nations who know how and are ready to 
defend it. America is destined to lead the world. Let 
us work together for the principle of right and justice, 
of liberty and happiness." 

The European war had fixed the period of the renais- 



504 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

sance or rebirth of Pan- Americanism. President Wilson 
was now its guiding genius, and the Pan-American 
Scientific Congress was the occasion of its dedication to 
a new service based upon the principle of human rights 
set forth originally in the American Declaration of 
Independence. 

By the aid of the American Institute of International 
Law, which is composed of 105 members, five from each 
of the twenty-one American republics, the Pan-American 
Scientific Congress adopted a Declaration of the Rights 
of Nations. The five articles of the declaration, without 
the preamble and citations of famous legal decisions, are 
as follows : 

1. Every nation has the right to exist, to protect, and 
to conserve its existence ; but this right neither implies 
the right nor justifies the act of the state to protect itself 
or to conserve its existence by the commission of unlawful 
acts against innocent and unoffending states. 

This right is and is to be understood in the sense in 
which the right to life is understood in national law, 
according to which it is unlawful for a human being to 
take human life unless it be necessary so to do in self- 
defense against an unlawful attack threatening the life 
of the party unlawfully attacked. 

2. Every nation has the right to independence in 
the .sense that it has a right to the pursuit of happiness 
and is free to develop itself without interference or 
control from other states, provided that in so doing it 



A PAN-AMERICAN UNION 505 

does not interfere with or violate the just rights of 
other states. 

3. Every nation is in law and before law the equal of 
every other state composing the society of nations, and all 
states have the right to claim, and, according to the 
Declaration of Independence of the United States, "to 
assume, among the powers of the earth, the separate and 
equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's 
God entitle them." 

4. Every nation has the right to territory within 
defined boundaries and to exercise exclusive jurisdiction 
over this territory, and all persons, whether native or 
foreign, found therein. 

5. Every nation entitled to a right by the law of 
nations is entitled to have that right respected and pro- 
tected by all other nations, for right and duty are cor- 
relative, and the right of one is the duty of all to 
observe. 

This declaration defines the rights of neutrals as well 
as of belligerents, and it might be characterized as an 
"International Declaration of Independence." 

Moreover, this Congress created an International High 
Commission consisting of a National section for each 
country. These sections were to meet from time to time 
in general conference, and between meetings exchange 
their views by correspondence. 

"In pursuance of this plan," said Mr. McAdoo, Secre- 
tary of the Treasury, "the first general meeting of the 



506 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

commission opened on April 3 of this year at Buenos 
Aires. With gratifying ardor the distinguished body of 
delegates representing twenty republics addressed them- 
selves to the consideration of projects presented for the 
improvement of our various national laws or our sev- 
eral commercial and financial policies. The program 
was a truly formidable one, embracing thirteen different 
subjects, many of which were large enough to serve as 
the subject matter for an entire conference. Yet, in 
spite of that, the conference worked with such unity of 
purpose and brought to its tasks such a wealth of ex- 
perience and knowledge and constructive genius that 
it was able to present a body of resolutions for the con- 
sideration of the various governments that will not fail 
to stimulate a genuine wave of enthusiasm for the cause 
of progressive and enlightened commercial legislation 
in the American Republics." 

Mr. McAdoo declared that an effort is now being made 
to carry into effect the recommendations of this High 
Commission. And looking to that end a Central Com- 
mittee, with the Secretary of the Treasury of the United 
States as Chairman, was ' ' charged with the carrying out 
of the mandate of the conference and given the high 
responsibility of coordinating and directing the work of 
the National Sections, and of keeping in the closest touch 
and sympathy with the economic policy of the American 
Governments." 

Thus ' ' the steady pressure of moral force ' ' was at last 



A PAN-AMERICAN UNION 507 

breaking ''the barriers of pride and prejudice down, 
and we were triumphing as the friend of Latin- America 
sooner than we could possibly have triumphed as her 
superior overlord — 'And how much more handsomely, 
with how much higher and finer satisfaction of con- 
science and of honor.' " 



CHAPTER XXII 

THE NEED OF EDUCATIONAL PREPAREDNESS 

The more important issues springing out of the 
European war soon began to press heavily upon our 
educational institutions. President Wilson, himself a 
trained educationist, was quick to see the need o>f 
educational preparedness and to call the attention of 
the American people to this need. But how was the 
school affected? 

The public school is an instrument created by society 
for the purpose of preserving its ideals and institutions 
and for promoting its own interests. The problem of 
individual development is a professional one, with which 
society in general is unacquainted. Therefore, since 
the beginning of recorded deeds, there have been two 
aims in education : one is social or practical, the other 
is individual or theoretical. The former is constantly 
changing because it is affected by every great social 
upheaval. The latter is more or less constant since 
it is concerned primarily with the native tendencies 
of the individual. 

The political and industrial revolutions at the close 
of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th centuries 

508 



EDUCATIONAL PREPAREDNESS 509 

made radical changes in all social institutions. Scarcely 
a man lives today as his ancestors did before these 
great changes took place. As a result we have a pub- 
lic school system unlike the old systems. It has a differ- 
ent organization, a different content, and even a 
different social purpose from those of the 17th and first 
half of the 18th centuries. 

But at the beginning of the 20th century, even before 
the outbreak of the European war, it was observed and 
noted that our whole educational system, although it 
was comparatively new, was ill adapted to meet the needs 
of modern society. Moreover, it was a matter of pro- 
fessional knowledge that "every step taken in the direc- 
tion of broadening our courses and differentiating our 
schools so as better to meet its needs has invariably 
resulted in a rapid increase in attendance" — an argu- 
ment that an untrained people is the result of poor 
educational opportunities. 

The great war gave society a tremendous jolt, and 
men everywhere began to take an inventory of the per- 
manent social assets that could be mobilized for the 
benefit of society. The conservatism of the school stood 
out. then, in bold relief, and the American system came 
under a fierce criticism. It was charged that less 
progress has been made in education in the last thirty 
years than in any other vocation or profession. 

Vocational education was advocated strongly before 
the war. and the Gary system was one concrete result of 



510 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

the agitation. There were others also. But it was the 
European war that taught America how necessary it 
is to have "a loyal entente between the industrial men, 
the merchants, and the agriculturalists" of a nation. 
Moreover, it became more apparent that "each nation 
must resolve to accomplish profound modifications in 
industries, commerce, and culture," and that the school 
must play a large part in producing this modification. 

Another industrial revolution was felt to be taking 
place. New industries have arisen in America because 
of the suspension or destruction in Europe of similar 
industries. Other nations had monopolies on goods es- 
sential to American homes and American business. The 
great war cut off our supply by destroying the accus- 
tomed trade route, and American genius and energy have 
been stimulated to enter new fields. 

American colleges and universities, instead of attack- 
ing vigorously these problems, before the war were 
tributaries in a large measure to European universities. 
But after the outbreak of the war, these higher institu- 
tions of learning came also under the fire of criticism, 
and a readjustment was begun. 

President Wilson advised the people of this coun- 
try that the school must play a tremendous part 
not only in perfecting the program of the New 
Freedom, but also in making the nation sure of 
its military, commercial, and industrial prepared- 
ness. He referred in his message to the need of 



EDUCATIONAL PUKl'ARKDXKSS 511 

giving federal aid and stimulation to industrial and 
vocational education "as we have long done in the large 
field of our agricultural industry." The Smith-Lever 
bill, referred to elsewhere, was the product of the long 
agitation for federal aid to agricultural industry. 

"We should study more carefully," he said, 
"than they have hitherto been studied the right 
adaptation of our economic arrangements to 
changing conditions. 

And again, "The most we can do is to make 
certain that we have the necessary instrumentali- 
ties of information constantly at our service, so 
that Ave may be sure that we know exactly what 
we are dealing with when we come to act, if it 
should be necessary to act at all. We must first 
certainly know what it is that we are seeking to 
adapt ourselves to." 

Here was a new field for the colleges and universities 
to enter. It was pointed out that other nations had 
institutions i'<>r the study of world trade, and that they 
were organized with a corps of highly trained economists 
to instruct the people concerning trade possibilities and 
difficulties, and industrial needs. The Tariff Commis- 
sion proposed by the President would in a measure serve 
the purpose of such an institution. Rut that would not 
relieve, it would increase the obligation imposed upon 



512 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

our colleges and universities to make investigation and 
give instruction in this field of endeavor. 

As the discussion of this point increased, the criticism 
of the American school system increased, and unusual 
modifications of its content and even of its organization 
were earnestly pressed. The Secretary of the Interior, 
in response to this new demand, recommended that Con- 
gress increase very largely its appropriation to the 
Bureau of Education in order to make it a more efficient 
agency. Others were advocating that the Bureau of 
Education should be converted into a great national uni- 
versity. Thus military preparedness, commercial pre- 
paredness, and industrial preparedness had made educa- 
tional preparedness an important issue in the nation — 
another evidence of the influence of a great social pres- 
sure upon the school. 

Mr. Wilson made his spectacular and very important 
tour of the country soon after the 64th Congress con- 
vened. His main theme was the need of military 
preparedness. But he argued also that America needed 
educational preparedness as well because of the need 
of military and industrial preparedness. 

" There are two sides to the question of 
preparation," he said. "There is not merely the 
military side, there is the industrial side. And 
the ideal which I have in mind is this, gentle- 
men: we ought to have in this country a great 



EDUCATIONAL PREPAREDNESS 513 

system of industrial and vocational education, 
under federal guidance and with federal aid, in 
which a very large percentage of the youth of 
this country will be given training in the skillful 
use and application of the principles of science 
in maneuvre and business. And it will be 
perfectly feasible and highly desirable to add to 
that and combine with it such a training in the 
mechanism and use and care of arms, in the 
sanitation of camp, in the simpler forms of 
maneuvre and organization, as will make these 
men industrially efficient and individually service- 
able for national defense. 

"The point about such a system is that its 
emphasis will lie on the industrial and civil side 
of life; and that, like all the rest of America, 
the use of force will only be in the background 
and as the last resort, so that men will think first 
of their families and their daily work, of their 
service in the economic fields of the country, and 
only last of all in their service to the nation as 
soldiers and men at arms. That is the ideal of 
America. But, gentlemen, you cannot create such 
a system over night. You cannot create such a 
system rapidly. It has got to be built up, and 
I hope it will be built up by slow and effective 



514 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

stages. And there is something to be done in 
the meantime. We must see to it that a suffi- 
cient body of citizens is given the kind of train- 
ing which will make them efficient for call into the 
field in case of necessity." 

He argued that it was perfectly feasible to combine 
instruction that would work both for military and in- 
dustrial preparedness. 

"A nation," he said, "should be ashamed to 
use an inefficient instrument when it can make 
its instrument efficient for everything that it 
needs to employ it for, and it can do it along 
with the magnifying and ennobling and quicken- 
ing of the tasks of peace. 

' ' But we have to create the schools and develop 
the schools to do these things, and we cannot at 
present wait for the slower processes. We must 
go at once to the task of training a very con- 
siderable body of men to the use of arms and 
the life of camps, and we can do so upon one 
condition, and one condition only. The test of 
what we are proposing is not going to be the 
action of Congress — it is going to be the response 
of the country; it is going to be the volunteering 
of the men to take the training, and the willing- 
ness of their employers to see to it that no 



EDUCATIONAL 1MIKPAKEDXESS 515 

obstacles are put in the way of their volunteering. 

"It will be up to the young men of this coun- 
try and the men who employ them, and then we 
shall know how far it is true that America wishes 
to prepare herself for national defense. It is not 
a matter of sentiment, but a matter of hard 
practice. 

"Are the men going to come out, and are those 
who employ them going to facilitate their coming 
out? I for one believe that they will. There 
are many selfish influences at work in this coun- 
try, as in every other, but, when it comes to the 
larger view, America can produce the substance 
of patriotism as abundantly as any other country 
under God's sun." 

Military preparedness was the one problem that was 
pressing hardest for solution. The schools have not 
escaped its influence, and a part of the great debate 
still goes on among teachers and school boards as to 
whether the public school shall incorporate military 
training in its courses or not. How can it be taught 
consistently in the same school where universal peace 
is taught? How much time shall be devoted 1o it? 
How can military 1 raining be coordinated with indus- 
trial training? These are some of the questions that 
confront school officials and school teachers. 



516 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

Industrial and military training, however, are not the 
only phase of this educational preparedness that con- 
fronts the nation. Pan- Americanism brings to the Amer- 
ican school system another problem. The close students 
of educational practice in this country have been ob- 
serving for the past two years some symptoms which 
indicate that our schools and colleges are already affected 
by this Pan-American ideal. Spanish, unknown to most 
of the high schools of the nation, has been creeping 
gradually and modestly into the curriculum in sections 
of the nation where foreign influences have been least 
apparent. Moreover, the culture of the Spanish- Amer- 
ican races, their governmental institutions, and their 
economic resources, have been receiving significant atten- 
tion in many of our colleges and universities. 

"The germs of Pan- Americanism must be introduced 
in the class room," declared a delegate to the Pan- 
American Scientific Congress. "It is a false patriotism 
to inculcate in the minds of children the idea that in all 
comparison of their native land with foreign countries 
the former always should be given the advantage. This 
false patriotism will cause the countries to cheat them- 
selves out of the advantage of cooperation and reciprocal 
instruction." It was argued, furthermore, that the 
Americas must cooperate intellectually, and President 
Nicholas Murray Butler of Columbia University replied 
in like spirit that it is the duty of the colleges and the 
universities to foster this intellectual union. 



EDUCATIONAL PREPAREDNESS 517 

American schools were really accused of teaching a 
false patriotism and depriving American children of 

"the advantages of cooperation and reciprocal instruc- 
tion." "The so-called educated youth of America" in 
some respects, it was charged, are inferior to students 
of a similar grade even in South America. "The latter," 
it is said, "speaks commonly French and often English, 
besides his native tongue, speaks them fluently and not 
stammeringly. In every Latin country, indeed, French 
is a second mother tongue to the well-to-do. Thanks to 
our lingering provinciality, and the admirable linguistic 
uselessness of most of our schools and colleges, the 
majority of 'educated' North Americans are unilingual. 
And, lacking the very A B C of business intercourse, we 
expect to compete successfully in the other Americas with 
Englishmen. Germans, Frenchmen, who are thoroughly 
familiar with the language, commercial and social cus- 
toms, and institutions of those countries." 

If North America, therefore, is to understand South 
America, a condition absolutely necessary before there 
can be any lasting Pan-American Union, the colleges and 
universities have an intellectual task to perform before 
this great program is completed. But the great war has 
discovered South America to North Ajnerica, and Presi- 
ded Wilson, in speaking to the delegates oi' the Financial 
Conference in May, 1915, said what others have fell since. 

"It is even a source of mortification to mo," 



518 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

lie said, "that it should have required a crisis 
of the world to show the Americans how truly 
they were neighbors to one another. If there is 
any one happy circumstance, gentlemen, arising 
out of the present distressing circumstances of 
the world, it is that it has revealed us to one 
another; it has shown us what it means to be 
neighbors. And I cannot help harboring the 
hope, the veiy high hope, that by this commerce 
of minds with one another, as well as commerce 
in goods, we may show the world in part the path 
to peace." 

Woodrow Wilson was closing his administration. The 
first half was devoted to the task of restoring the rule 
of right and justice in the nation, and in its relations 
with foreign nations. The second half was concerned 
with the European war: the task of preserving peace in 
America, and of holding the mad nations of the world 
to some standard, coupled with the greatest domestic 
problem that has confronted this nation since the Civil 
War, — how to prepare the nation socially, industrially, 
and educationally to meet the great issues born of the 
war. In looking back over his achievements as he faced 
another political campaign, he declared : 

"I am willing, no matter what my personal 
fortune may be, to play for the verdict of man- 



EDUCATIONAL PREPAREDNESS 519 

kind. Personally, it will be a matter of indiffer- 
ence to me what the verdict on the 7th of Novem- 
ber is, provided 1 have any degree of confidence 
that when a later jury sits, I shall get their 
judgment in my favor, not in my favor personally 
— what difference does that make? — but in my 
favor as an honest and conscientious spokesman 
of a great nation." 



CHAPTER XXIII 

THE MAN IN ACTION 

Woodrow Wilson, the man in action, is intensely 
human. He loves the simple life and his habits are those 
of the plain men of the country. He hates the silk hat 
and the conventional dress, and he is happiest, it is said, 
in his working clothes. It was this preference for the 
unconventional, for simplicity and directness, that led 
him to dispense with the inaugural ball, and to upset the 
precedents of a century by going to Congress to deliver 
his first message. And he disarmed those who thought 
this act savored of royalty by introducing himself as 
"a human being." 

He does not give much consideration to the way his 
acts will be seen through the eyes of others. Disliking 
form and ceremonies and preferring the simple life, he 
declined, without even thinking of it, an election to the 
Chevy Chase Country Club, and was amazed next day 
to find that he had committed a mortal sin against high 
society. 

The ceremonies that surrounded him in the 
White House amused him. "For example," he 

520 



THE MAX IN ACTION 521 

said, "take matters of tins sort: I will not say 
whether it is wise or unwise, simple or grave, 
but certain precedents have been established that 
in certain companies the President must leave 
the room first, and the people must give way to 
him. They must not sit down if he is standing 
up. It is a very uncomfortable thing to have 
to think of all the other people every time I get 
up and sit down, and all that sort of thing, so 
that when I get guests in my own house and the 
public is shut out, I adjourn being President and 
take leave to be a gentleman. If they draw back 
and insist upon my doing something first, I 
firmly decline." 

Moreover, he protested with a show of humor against 
enforced presidential conventionalties that kept him vir- 
tually a prisoner in the White House, and he ridiculed 
the customs that placed him in the "same category as 
the National Museum, the Smithsonian Institute, or 
the Washington Monument." 

"If I only knew an exhibition appearance to 
assume," he said once, speaking humorously of 
this custom, "I would like to have it pointed 
out, so that I could practice it before the looking 
glass and see if I could not look like the Monu- 



522 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

ment. Being regarded as a national exhibit, it 
will be much simpler than being shaken hands 
with by the whole United States." 

He did not exaggerate the Washington habit 
when he declared that if he "turned up any- 
where" in Washington he was "personally con- 
ducted to beat the band" by "the Curator, the 
Assistant Curator and every other blooming 
official, and they show so much attention that I 
don't see the building." 

In speaking of the Presidency, he said: 

"I feel like a person appointed for a certain 
length of time to administer that office, and I 
feel just as much outside of it at this moment 
as I did before I was elected to it. I feel just 
as much outside of it as I still feel outside of 
the government of the United States. No man 
could imagine himself the government of the 
United States ; but he could understand that some 
part of his fellow citizens had told him to go 
and run a certain part of it the best he knew 
how. That would not make him the government 
itself or the thing itself. It would just make him 
responsible for running it the best he knew how. 
The machine is so much greater than himself, 



mi; man in ACTION 523 

the office is so much greater than himself, the 
office is so much greater than he can ever be, 
and the most he can do is to look grave enough 
and self-possessed enough to seem to fill it. 

"I can hardly refrain every now and then 
from tipping the public a wink as much as to 
say, 'It is only ''me" that is inside this thing. 
I know perfectly well that I will have to get out 
presently. I know then that I will look just my 
own proper size, and that for the time being the 
proportions are somewhat refracted and mis- 
represented to the eye because of the large thing I 
am inside of, from which I am tipping you this 
wink.' " 

Himself a human being, he has been in sympathetic 
touch with the sentiments of the American people. lie is 
the real leader of a great democracy because he feels in 
his own heart the needs and desires and demands of the 
American people. He has sought to make their spirit 
his spirit, and their conscience his conscience. 

"I am diligently trying," he said, "to collect 
all the brains that, arc borrowable in order that 
I will not make more blunders than it is inevitable 
a man should make who has great limitations of 
knowledge and capacity." 



524 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

He illustrated his method of working with Congress 
by the following story : 

"We had once when I w r as president of a 
university, to revise a whole course of study. 
A committee, I believe of fourteen men, was 
constituted by the faculty of the university to 
report a revised curriculum. Naturally, the men 
who had the most ideas on the subject were picked 
out, and naturally, each man came w T ith a very 
definite notion of the kind of revision he wanted, 
and one of the first discoveries we made was that 
no two of us w r anted exactly the same revision. 

"I w r ent in there with all my war paint on to 
get the revision I wanted and, I dare say, though 
it was perhaps more skilfully concealed, the 
other men had their war paint on, too. We dis- 
cussed that matter for six months. The result 
was a report wdiich no one of us had conceived 
or foreseen, but with which we were all absolutely 
satisfied. There w r as not a man who had not 
learned in that committee more than he had ever 
known before about the subject, who had not 
willingly revised his prepossession, and who was 
not proud to be a participant in a genuine piece 
of common counsel." 



THE MAX IX ACTION .72;, 

A careful review of his speeches from his inaugural 
address to the completion of his program reveals little 
of the fault finding, scarcely no abuse, but always an 
appeal to those finer centers where patriotism abides. 
In facing a group of business men, he declared emphatic- 
ally that certain men did deliberately go about to set up 
private monopoly in this country. But he appealed to 
their patriotism to come and help remove the evil. When 
the lobbyists, those "self-appointed trustees," were 
standing in the way of the progress of legislation, he 
boldly and vigorously brushed them aside. But in his 
addresses there are found practically no references to 
"malefactors of great wealth" or to "robber barons" 
of large industries. 

He is a good psychologist, using the power of sug- 
gestion to direct the thought of the nation into patriotic 
channels, rather than throwing evil on the defensive and 
gaining for it reinforcements by holding it up before the 
public. He was constantly holding up, instead, the vir- 
tues of the statesmen who helped to make the good that 
once existed and should now exist in the nation, and he 
seemed to draw his inspiration for patriotic utterances 
from the glory of men individually and collectively who 
set up this nation on the rights of man. 

His habits of work are very interesting. A daily pro- 
gram of his official acts was published by James Hay. Jr., 
in the American Magazine, as follows: 

"His personal stenographer, C. L. Sweni. who was 



526 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

with him in New Jersey, reports at the study in the 
White House proper at 8 :55, at which time the President 
dictates replies to the important letters which have been 
received at the White House offices the day before. At 
ten o'clock he takes his place at his desk in his private 
office in the White House offices. Between ten and ten- 
thirty he attends to whatever routine work is possible 
before he begins to keep the appointments he or his secre- 
tary has made several days before. Each caller usually 
gets five minutes, some of them three, and a few fifteen. 
He keeps a card on his desk showing the list of appoint- 
ments, and checks off with his own hand each appoint- 
ment as it is kept. (I saw one of these cards on which he 
had run his pencil through the name of a prominent 
politician and had written after the name in blue pencil, 
'He did not come.' That 'He did not come' looked 
ominous.) 

''At 12:59 the President, having concluded the ap- 
pointments, leaves the office and goes to the White House 
for his one-o 'clock luncheon. 

"At two o'clock he receives in the East Room delega- 
tions of tourists who want to shake his hand, and, if it 
is necessary, he has a long conference with some member 
of the Cabinet or a diplomat. After that, he plays golf, 
takes a walk through the shopping district of Washing- 
ton, or goes for an automobile ride. 

"At seven o'clock he has dinner. 



THE MAN IN ACTION 527 

"lie goes to bed between ten o'clock and midnight, 
never after midnight." 

The President 's office methods are described as remark- 
able for accuracy and exactness. lie files all his im- 
portant papers with his own hands in a filing case just 
back of his chair in the White House study. His powers 
of concentration are great, and after devoting his mind 
entirely to a single subject, or dictating a speech or a 
paper, or writing it out in shorthand and then reading 
it to his stenographer, practically no changes are 
required. 

Punctuality, alertness, candor, and firmness are char- 
acteristic of the man. If you have an engagement with 
him he keeps it to the second and resents it if you do not. 
If you suggest a new idea, he quietly grasps it and is 
ready to use it. In this way he collects all the brains 
available. If you have an engagement with him for five 
minutes, when you have talked 4.9 minutes, he "will cer- 
tainly give the matter careful consideration," he is "glad 
you offered the suggestion," and is "sorry you can't 
stay longer for it is very interesting." Out you go 
unoffended, and as you leave, he jots down in shorthand 
for future consideration the main points of the discus- 
sion, and is ready for the next man. It is said that he is 
an expert stenographer and that a page from his note 
book is "as clear ami clean cu1 as a piece of engraving." 

Mr. Wilson says himself thai he never stops working 



528 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

on his important messages to Congress until he is ready 
to deliver them. This story which he tells is an illus- 
tration of this fact : 

"I was amused the other day," lie said, "at a 
remark that Senator Newlands made. I had read 
him the trust message that I was to deliver to 
Congress some ten days before I delivered it, 
and I never stop 'doctoring' things of that kind 
until the day I have to deliver them. When he 
heard it read to Congress he said: 'I think it 
was better than it was when you read it to me.' 
I said: 'Senator, there is one thing which I do 
not think you understand. I not only use all the 
brains I have, but all I can borrow, and I have 
borrowed a lot since I read it to you first. ' ' ' 

He moves about his tasks with a briskness that sur- 
prises, and a hearty good cheer that pleases, but with a 
poise and directness that carry conviction. In him there 
is nothing of the demagogue, no bluff and bluster, no 
acrobatic gyrations or playing to the galleries. His 
private life is simplicity itself. He is a polished gentle- 
man, but thoroughly democratic and intensely human. 
A scholar of the first rank, a rapid thinker of extraor- 
dinary mental alertness, he moves with precision, cour- 
age, and purpose. He is slow to make promises, but 
quick to fulfill those he makes. He has a facility and 
a felicity of expression that quickly charms his 



T1IK MAN IN AC'] I UN 529 

hearers; Bquare-sli<raldered and manly, ho looks 
you straight in the eye, charms you with his mellow 
musical voice, eager interest, and marvelous fund of 
information. He is a dynamo of energy, a storage battery 
of power. You are conscious that you are in the pres- 
ence of a great personality, a man worthy to be Presi- 
dent of the United States. 

Mr. Wilson has a keen sense of humor, and both his 
conversation and his speeches abound with stories. A 
certain committee from New York called to convince him 
that the Banking and Currency Laws which had then 
been in force about a year should be amended. The chair- 
man of the committee finally said: 

' ' Sir, that law is breaking down the power and control 
of Wall Street as the money center of the country." 

"That reminds me of a story," said the Presi- 
dent, as the unfailing twinkle came to his eye. 
"A stranger was visiting a great Cathedral in 
London. He gazed in wonder upon its magnifi- 
cence, and said to the keeper who was an Irish- 
man, 'Doesn't this beat the devil?' The Irishman 
promptly replied, 'That's what we built it for, 
Sir.' " 

In speaking of the vanity of the office holder 
in Washington he said once: "A friend of mine 
says that every man who takes office in Washing- 



530 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

ton either grows or swells, and when I give a man 
an office, I watcli him carefully to see whether he 
is swelling or growing. The mischief of it is 
that when they swell they do not swell enough 
to burst. If they would only swell to the point 
where you might insert a pin and let the gases 
out, it would be a great delight. I do not know 
any pastime that would be more diverting, except 
that the gases are probably poisonous, so that we 
would have to stand from under." 

During his fight against the lobbyists and the monop- 
olists he came in for a great deal of criticism and abuse. 
His leadership had not been fully established, and his 
popularity was then at its lowest ebb. In describing his 
feelings to newspaper men, he said : 

11 There are blessed intervals when I forget by 
one means or another that I am President of the 
United States. One means by which I forget is 
to get a rattling good detective story, get after 
some imaginary offender and chase him all over — 
preferably any continent but this, because the 
various parts of this continent are becoming pain- 
fully suggestive to me. The postoffices, and many 
other things which stir reminiscence have ' sicklied 
them o'er with a pale cast of thought.' There 



THE -MAN IN ACTION 531 

are postoffices which I can't think of without 
trembling with the knowledge of all the heart- 
burnings there were in connection with getting 
somebody installed as postmaster." 

The President's ability to use classic English is well 
recognized, but there is a story that upon one occasion 
he made a short cut to the point. A battle royal was 
raging in the House. The contest was close and bitter. 
A congressman wanted to be known as an "administra- 
tion man" because while the people at home didn't know 
the details, yet they believed in the President and ac- 
cepted without question all for which he stood. The 
congressman wanted to hedge, so he called upon the 
President and said, "Mr. President, of course, I am for 
you all the way, but I think you might recede a little to 
please some of my constituents who don't agree with us. 
Won't you?" 

Mr. Wilson had been holding the fort almost alone for 
days and he had reached the limit of his patience. No 
sooner had the congressman ceased his pleading than the 
President turned suddenly upon him and poun<liii.L r 
heavily upon the table exclaimed: 

"I'm right! No!" 

And he clothed this negative with such force that, so 
the story goes, the distinguished congressman, utterly 



532 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

frightened, did not put on his hat until he had reached 
the House, and without taking his seat, he made a speech 
in favor of the bill. 

Mr. "Wilson is considered an excellent judge of human 
nature. He is so human himself that it is easy for a 
man of his training to detect the real human being as 
it moves in and out among the artificial figures and de- 
humanizing conventionalists. He speaks often of the 
value to the world of the disinterested man. 

"The only tiling that saves the world is the 
handful of disinterested men in it." And he 
declared, that he was ever on the watch for such 
men. 

"I have found a few disinterested men," he 
said, "and I tie to those men as you would tie to 
an anchor. I tie to them as you w r ould tie to 
the voices of conscience, if you could be sure 
that you always heard them. Men who have no 
axes to grind, men who love America so that 
they would give their lives for it and never care 
whether anybody heard that they had given their 
lives for it, willing to die in obscurity if only 
they might serve — those are the men. Nations, 
like those men, are the nations that are going to 
serve the world and save it." 



THE MAX IN ACTION 533 

He had no patience with the stand-patter, the reac- 
tionary, or the so-called conservative, "these hopeless 

dams against the stream" who were often urging him to 
let things alone, and let all the forces of evil as well as 
good work on in their accustomed way. 

"I remember," he said, "when I was President 
of a university, a man said to me: 'Good 
Heavens, man, why don't you leave something 
alone and let it stay the way it is!' and I said: 
'If you will guarantee to me that it will stay 
the way it is, I w r ill let it alone; but if you knew 
anything, you would know that if you leave a 
tiling alone it will not stay where it is. It will 
develop, and will either go in the wrong direction 
or decay.' 

"I reminded him of this thing that the English 
writer said, that if you want to keep a white post 
white, you cannot let it alone. It will get black. 
You have to keep doing something to it. In thai 
instance you have got to paint it white frequently 
in order to keep it white, because there are forces 
at work that will get the better of you. Not only 
will it turn black, but the forces of moisture and 
other forces of nature will penetrate the white 
paint and get at the fibre of the wood, and decay 



534 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

will set in, and the next time you try to paint it 
3 t ou will find that there is nothing but punk to 
paint. 

"Then you will remember the Red Queen in 
'Alice in Wonderland' or 'Alice Through the 
Looking Glass' — I forget which, it has been so 
long since I read them — who takes Alice by the 
hand, and they rush along at a great pace, and 
then, when they stop, Alice looks around and 
says, 'But we are just where we were when we 
started.' 'Yes,' says the Bed Queen, 'you have 
to run twice as fast as that to get anywhere 
else.' 

* ' That is also true, gentlemen, of the world and 
of affairs. You have got to run fast merely to 
stay where you are, and in order to get any- 
where you have got to run twice as fast as that. 
That is what people do not realize. That is the 
mischief of these hopeless dams against the 
stream known as reactionaries, and standpatters, 
and other words of obloquy. That is what is the 
matter with them: they are not even staying 
where they were. They are sinking further and 
further back in what will some time comfortably 
close over their heads as the black waters of 
oblivion. I sometimes imagine that I see their 



THE MAX IX ACTION :,:;.") 

heads going down, and 1 am not inclined even 
to throw them a life preserver. The sooner they 
disappear the bettor. We need their places for 
people who are awake; and we particularly need 
now, gentlemen, men who will divest themselves 
of party passion and of personal preference and 
will try to think in the terms of America." 

The man who is happiest in old clothes and hates a 
silk hat is the same man who meets a suspicions congress- 
man and conquers him, not by threats or bluster, it is 
said, but by telling him with frank simplicity what he 
thinks ought to be done. The lobbyists in Washington 
always expecting to find a politician "playing the game" 
and always looking for the vulnerable spot in his play, 
found themselves baffled and conquered by the Presi- 
dent's method of fighting. He does not adopt this 
method as tactics ; he acts in this way, it is said, because 
this is Woodrow Wilson, the man himself. He knows 
no other way. 

"I cannot make myself over; you must take 
me as you find me," he said once. 

He wins because he is prepared. Intellectual con- 
tests are easy because of his well disciplined mind. 
He has read more widely and thought more accu- 
rately, as a rule, than any antagonist he meets 



536 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

at home or abroad. Moreover, he has an inher- 
ent and life long preference for plainness and 
directness, and for simple things. This is a comple- 
mentary side of the same characteristics which make his 
political methods so direct. Herein lies the secret of 
much of his power. 

He knows the history and the science of government 
with an intimacy few men have possessed. It was the 
possession of this accurate knowledge that made it pos- 
sible for him to confound the bankers when they came 
to ask him to consent to their naming representatives 
on the Federal Reserve Board. 

After all is said and done, in times like this, the real 
determining factor is the man — the masterful man in 
action. Americans clamor for the man who is safe and 
will not lead astray, the leader who stands for America 
first, the master to whom the world looks with confidence 
for cool deliberation, justice, and honor in the final ad- 
justment of domestic and foreign affairs in the midst of 
confusion at home and madness abroad. 

America is the world power destined to be the arbiter 
of this stupendous conflict, and Woodrow Wilson, the 
President, is the greatest figure, perhaps, in this world 
crisis of inexcusable folly and causeless bloodshed. 

He admits that he makes mistakes, but his charac- 
terization of the men who have helped to set this nation 
forward on the path to peace and honor may be descrip- 
tive likewise of himself. 



THE -MAN IX ACTION 537 

"The men who grow, the men who think better 
a year after they are put in office than they 
thought when they were put in office, are the 
balance wheel of the whole thing. They are the 
ballast that enables the craft to carry sail and 
to make a port in the long run, no matter what 
the weather is." 

But looking back over the years that have intervened 
since lie was inaugurated, he spoke feelingly of the 
crises through which he had come and of the hostile- 
criticism of him from men who had differed with him. 
It came as a sort of public confession to the newspaper 
men of Washington : 

"I have come through the fire," he said, 
"since I talked to you last. Whether the metal 
is purer than it was, God only knows. But the 
fire has been there, the fire has penetrated every 
part of it, and if I may believe my own thoughts, 
I have less partisan feeling, more impatience of 
party maneuver, more enthusiasm for the right 
thing, no matter whom it hurts, than I ever had 
before in my life." 



APPENDIX 

SELECTIONS FROM WOODROW WIL- 
SON'S PUBLIC ADDRESSES 

THE SPIRIT OF PENN 

"I cannot help thinking of William Penn as 
a sort of spiritual knight who went out upon his 
adventures to carry the torch that had been put 
into his hands, so that other men might have the 
path illuminated for them which led to justice and 
liberty. I cannot admit that a man establishes 
his right to call himself a college graduate by 
showing me his diploma. The only way he can 
prove it is by showing that his eyes are lifted 
to some horizon which other men less instructed 
than he have not been privileged to see. Unless 
he carries freight of the spirit, he has not been 
bred where spirits are bred. 

"This man Penn, representing the sweet enter- 
prise of the quiet and powerful sect that called 
themselves Friends, proved his right to the title 
by being the friend of mankind. He crossed the 

538 



APPENDIX 539 

ocean, not merely to establish estates in America, 
but to set up a free commonwealth in America, 
and to show that he was of the lineage of those 
who had been bred in the best traditions of the 
human spirit. I would not be interested in cele- 
brating the memory of William Penn if his con- 
quest had been merely a material one. Sometimes 
we have been laughed at, by foreigners in par- 
ticular, for boasting of the size of the American 
continent, the size of our own domain as a nation ; 
for they have, naturally enough, suggested that 
we did not make it. But I claim that every race 
and every man is as big as the thing that he takes 
possession of, and that the size of America is in 
some sense a standard of the size and capacity of 
the American people. And yet the mere extent 
of the American conquest is not what gives 
America distinction in the annals of the world, 
but the professed purpose of the conquest which 
was to see to it that every foot of this land should 
be the home of free, self-governed people, who 
should have no government whatever which did 
not rest upon the consent of the governed. I 
would like to believe that all this hemisphere is 
devoted to the same sacred purpose, and that 
nowhere can any government endure which is 



540 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

stained by blood or supported by anything but 

the consent of the governed. 

"The spirit of Penn will not be stayed. You 

cannot set limits to such knightly adventurers. 

After their own day is gone, their spirits stalk 

the world, carrying inspiration everywhere that 

they go, and reminding men of the lineage, the 

fine lineage, of those who have sought justice 

and right." 

From Woodrow Wilson's address at Swathmore Col- 
lege, Pennsylvania, October 25, 1913. 

JOHN BARRY'S EXAMPLE 

"No one can turn to the career of Commodore 
Barry without feeling a touch of the enthusiasm 
with which he devoted an originating mind to 
the great cause which he intended to serve, and 
it behooves us, living in this age when no man 
can question the power of the nation, when no 
man would dare to doubt its right and its deter- 
mination to act for itself, to ask what it was that 
filled the hearts of these men when they set the 
nation up. 

"John Barry was an Irishman, but his heart 
crossed the Atlantic with him. He did not leave 
it in Ireland. And the test of all of us — for all 



APPENDIX 541 

of us bad our origins on the other side of the 
sea — is whether we will assist in enabling Amer- 
ica to live her separate and independent life, 
retaining our ancient affections, indeed, but deter- 
mining everything that we do by the interests that 
exist on this side of the sea. Some Americans 
need hyphens in their names, because only part 
of them has come over; but when the whole man 
has come over, heart and thought and all, the 
hyphen drops of its own weight out of his name. 
This man was not an Irish- American ; he was an 
Irishman who became an American. I venture 
to say if he voted, he voted with regard to the 
questions as they looked on this side of the water 
and not on the other side, and that is my infallible 
test of a genuine American: that when he votes, 
or when he acts, or when he fights, his heart and 
his thought are nowhere but in the center of the 
emotions and purposes and the policies of the 
United States. 

"This man illustrates for me all the splendid 
strength which we brought into the country by the 
magnet of freedom. Men have been drawn to 
this country by the same thing that lias made 
them love this country: by the opportunity to 
live their own lives, and to think their own 



542 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

thoughts, and to let their whole natures expand 
with the expansion of this free and mighty nation. 
We have brought out of the stocks of all the world 
all the best impulses, and have appropriated 
them and Americanized them and translated them 
into the glory and the majesty of this great 
country. 

"So, ladies and gentlemen, when we go out 
from this presence, we ought to take this idea 
with us : that we, too, are devoted to the purpose 
of enabling America to live her own life, to be 
the justest, the most progressive, the most honor- 
able, the most enlightened nation in the world. 
Any man who touches our honor is our enemy. 
Any man who stands in the way of that kind of 
progress which makes for human freedom cannot 
call himself our friend. Any man who does not 
feel behind him the whole push and rush and 
compulsion that filled men's hearts in the time 
of the Eevolution is no American. No man who 
thinks first of himself and afterwards of his 
country can call himself an American. America 
must be enriched by us. "We must not live upon 
her; she must live by means of us. 

"I, for one, come to this shrine to renew the 
impulses of American democracy. I would be 



AIM'KXDIX 543 

ashamed of myself if I went away from this place 
without realizing again that every bit of selfish- 
ness must be purged from our policy, that every 
bit of self-seeking must be purged from our in- 
dividual conscience, and that we must be great, 
if we would be great at all, in the light and 
illumination of the example of men who gave 
everything that they were and everything that 
they had to the glory and honor of America." 

From Woodrow Wilson's address at the unveiling of 
the statue to the memory of Commodore John Barry, at 
Washington, May 16, 1914. 

THE PLAIN MEN OF THE COLONIES 

"The men of the day which we now celebrate 
had a very great advantage over us, ladies and 
gentlemen, in this one particular: life was simple 
in America then. All men shared the same cir- 
cumstances in almost equal degree. We think of 
Washington, for example, as an aristocrat, as a 
man separated by training, separated by family 
and neighborhood tradition, from the ordinary 
people of the rank and file of the countiy. Have 
you forgotten the personal history of George 
Washington? Do you not know that he struggled 
as poor boys now struggle for a meager ami im- 



544 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

perfect education; that lie worked at his sur- 
veyor's tasks in the lonely forests; that he knew 
all the roughness, all the hardships, all the ad- 
venture, all the variety of the common life of 
that day; and that if he stood a little stiffly in 
this place, if he looked a little aloof, it was be- 
cause life had dealt hardly with him? All his 
sinews had been stiffened by the rough work of 
making America. He was a man of the people, 
whose touch had been with them since the day he 
saw the light in the old Dominion of Virginia. 
And the men who came after him, men, some of 
whom had drunk deep at the sources of phil- 
osophy and of study, were, nevertheless, also 
men who on this side of the water knew no com- 
plicated life, but the simple life of primitive 
neighborhoods. Our task is very much more 
difficult. That sympathy which alone interprets 
public duty is more difficult for a public man to 
acquire now than it was then, because we live 
in the midst of circumstances and conditions 
infinitely complex. 

"No man can boast that he understands Amer- 
ica. No man can boast that he has lived the life 
of America, as almost every man who sat in this 



APPENDIX 545 

hall in those days could boast. No man can 
pretend that except by common counsel he can 
gather into his consciousness what the varied 
life of this people is. The duty that we have to 
keep open eyes and open hearts and accessible 
understandings is a very much more difficult 
duty to perform than it was in their day. Yet 
how much more important that it should be 
performed, for fear we make infinite and irre- 
parable blunders. The city of Washington is in 
some respects self-contained, and it is easy to 
forget what the rest of the United States is think- 
ing about. 

"I count it a fortunate circumstance that 
almost all the windows of the White House and 
its offices open upon unoccupied spaces that 
stretch to the banks of the Potomac and then cut 
into Virginia and on to the heavens themselves, 
and that as I sit there I can constantly forget 
Washington and remember the United States. 
Not that I would intimate that all of the United 
States lies south of Washington, but there is a 
serious thing back of my thought. If you think 
too much about being reelected, it is very difficult 
to be worth reelecting. You are so apt to forget 



546 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

that the comparatively small number of persons, 
numerous as they seem to be when they swarm, 
who come to Washington to ask for things, does 
not constitute an important proportion of the 
population of the country, that it is constantly 
necessary to come away from Washington and 
renew one's contact with the people who do not 
swarm there, who do not ask for anything, but 
who do trust you without their personal counsel 
to do your duty. Unless a man gets these con- 
tacts, he grows weaker and weaker. He needs 
them as Antaeus needed the touch of Mother 
Earth. If you lift him up too high or he lifts 
himself too high, he loses the contact and there- 
fore loses the inspiration. 

"I love to think of those plain men, however 
far from plain their dress sometimes was, who 
assembled in this hall. One is startled to think 
of the variety of costume and color which would 
now occur if we were to let loose upon the 
fashions of that age. Men's lack of taste is 
largely concealed now by the limitations of 
fashion. Yet these men, who sometimes dressed 
like the peacock, were, nevertheless, of the or- 
dinary flight of their time. They were birds of 
a feather; they were birds come from a very 



APPENDIX 547 

simple breeding; they were much in the open 
heaven. They were beginning, when there was 
so little to distract their attention, to show that 
they could live upon fundamental principles of 
government. We talk those principles, but we 
have not time to absorb them. We have not time 
to let them into our blood, and thence have them 
translated into the plain mandates of action. 

"The very smallness of this room, the very 
simplicity of it all, all the suggestions which come 
from its restoration, are reassuring things — 
things which it becomes a man to realize. There- 
fore, my theme here today, my only thought, is a 
very simple one. Do not let us go back to the 
annals of those sessions of Congress to find out 
what to do, because we live in another age and 
the circumstances are absolutely different ; but let 
us be men of that kind ; let us feel at every turn 
the compulsions of principle and of honor which 
they felt; let us free our vision from temporary 
circumstances and look abroad at the horizon and 
take into our lungs the great air of freedom which 
has blown through this country and stolen across 
the seas and blessed people everywhere; and, 
looking east and west and north and south, let 
us remind ourselves that we are the custodians, 



548 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

in some degree, of the principles which have 

made men free and governments just." 

Woodrow Wilson's address at the celebration of the 
rededication of Congress Hall, Philadelphia, October 25, 
1913. 



THE MEANING OF THE DECLARATION OF 
INDEPENDENCE 

"Have you ever read the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence? When you have heard it read, have 
you attended to its sentences? The Declaration 
of Independence is not a Fourth of July oration. 
The Declaration of Independence was a docu- 
ment preliminary to a war. It involved a vital 
piece of business, not a piece of rhetoric. And 
if you will get further down in the reading than 
its preliminary passages, where it quotes about 
the rights of men, you will see that it is a very 
specific body of declarations concerning the busi- 
ness of the day — not the business of our day, for 
the matter with which it deals is past — the busi- 
ness of revolution, the business of 1776. The 
Declaration of Independence does not seem any- 
thing to us merely in its general statements 
unless we can append to it a similarly specific 



APPENDIX 549 

body of particulars as to what we consider our 
liberty to consist of. 

"Liberty does not consist in mere general 
declaration as to the rights of man. It consists 
in the translation of those declarations into 
definite action. Therefore, standing here where 
the Declaration was adopted, reading the busi- 
ness-like sentences, we ought to ask ourselves, 
what is there in it for us? There's nothing in 
it for us unless we can translate it into terms of 
our own conditions and of our own lives. We 
must reduce it to what the lawyers call a bill 
of particulars, the bill of particulars of 1776, 
and, if we are to revitalize it, we are to fill it 
with a bill of particulars of 1914. The task to 
which we have to address ourselves is a proof 
that we are worthy of the men who drew this 
great Declaration by showing we know what they 
would have done in our circumstances. 

"You know the Declaration of Independence 
has in one sense lost its significance. Nobody 
believed wo could be independent when that docu- 
ment was written. Now nobody would dare doubt 
we ar<> independent. As a declaration of inde- 
pendence it is a mere historic document. The 
Independence is a fact so stupendous that it can 



550 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

be measured only by the size, energy, ability, 
wealth, and power of one of the greatest nations 
of the world. 

"But it is one thing to be independent, and it 
is another thing to know what to do with your 
independence. It is one thing to come to your 
majority, and another thing to know what you 
are going to do with your life and your energies. 
One of the most serious questions for sober 
minded men to address themselves to in these 
United States is: what are we going to do with 
the influence and power of this, great nation? 
Are we going to play the old role of using that 
power for our own aggrandizement and material 
benefit? You know what that means. It means 
we shall use it to make the people of other 
nations suffer in the way in which we said it 
was intolerable to suffer when we uttered the 
Declaration of Independence. . 

"We set up this nation and we propose to set 
it up on the rights of man. We did not name any 
differences between one race and another; we 
did not set up any barriers against any par- 
ticular race of people, but opened our gates to 
the world, and said for all men who wished to be 
free to come to us and they would be welcome. 



APPENDIX 551 

We said this independence is not merely for us, 
a selfish thing for our own private use, but for 
everybody to whom we confided the means of 
extending it. 

* ' These were grim days, the days of 76. These 
gentlemen did not attach their names to the 
Declaration of Independence on this table ex- 
pecting a holiday the next day. The Fourth of 
July was not a holiday. They attached their 
signatures to that document, knowing, if they 
failed, the extreme likelihood was that every 
one would hang for the failure. They were com- 
mitting treason in the interest of three million 
people in America, and all the rest of the world 
was against them. All the rest of the world 
smiled with a cynical incredulity at the audacious 
undertaking. Do you think these gentlemen, if 
they could see this great nation, would regard 
that they had done anything to make themselves 
unpopular and to draw the gaze of the world in 
astonishment and condescending surprise? 

"Every idea has got to be started by some- 
body and it is a lonely thing to start anything. 
Yet you have got to start it if there is any man's 
blood in you, and if you love the country that you 
are pretending to work for. I am sometimes very 



552 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

much interested in seeing gentlemen supposing 
that popularity is the way to success in America. 
The way to popularity in America is to show that 
you are not afraid of anybody except God and 
his judgment. If I did not believe that, I would 
not believe that judgment would be the last and 
final judgment in the minds of men, as well as 
at the tribunal of God; I could not believe in 
popular government. But I do believe these 
things, and, therefore, I earnestly believe in the 
democracy, not only of America, but in the power 
of an awakened people, to govern and control its 
own affairs. So it is very inspiring to come to 
this that may be called the original fountain of 
liberty and independence of America, and take 
these drafts of patriotic feelings which seem to 
renew the very blood in a man's veins. 

''What other great people, I ask, has devoted 
itself to this exalted ideal? To what other nation 
can you look for instant sympathy that thrills 
the whole body politic when men anywhere are 
fighting for their rights! I don't know that there 
will ever be another Declaration of Independence, 
a statement of grievances of mankind, but I be- 
lieve if any such document is ever drawn, it will 
be drawn in the spirit of the American Declara- 



APPENDIX 553 

tion of Independence, and that America has lifted 
the light that will shine unto all generations and 
guide the feet of mankind to the goal of justice, 
liberty, and peace." 

From Woodrow Wilson's address at Independence 
Hall, Philadelphia, Pa., July 4, 1914. 

OUR DUTY TO THE DEFENDERS OF THE UNION 

"A peculiar privilege came to the men who 
fought for the Union. There is no other civil 
war in history, ladies and gentlemen, the stings 
of which were removed before the men who did 
the fighting passed from the stage of life. So 
that we owe these men something more than a 
legal re-establishment of the Union. We owe 
them the spiritual re-establishment of the Union 
as well; for they not only re-united states, they 
re-united the spirits of men. That is their unique 
achievement, unexampled anywhere else in the 
annals of mankind, that the very men whom they 
overcame in battle join in praise and gratitude 
that the Union was saved. There is something 
peculiarly beautiful and peculiarly touching about 
that. Whenever a man who is still trying to 
devote himself to the service of the nation comes 
into a presence like this, or into a place like 



554 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

this, his spirit must be peculiarly moved. A 
mandate is laid upon him which seems to speak 
from the very graves themselves. I can never 
speak in praise of war, ladies and gentlemen ; you 
would not desire me to do so. But there is this 
peculiar distinction belonging to the soldier, that 
he goes into an enterprise out of which he him- 
self cannot get anything at all. He is giving 
everything that he hath, even his life, in order 
that others may live, not in order that he himself 
may obtain gain and prosperity. And just so 
soon as the tasks of peace are performed in the 
same spirit of self-sacrifice and devotion, peace 
societies will not be necessary. The very organiza- 
tion and spirit of society will be a guaranty of 
peace. 

"Therefore, this peculiar thing comes about, 
that we can stand here and praise the memory of 
these soldiers in the interest of peace. They set 
us the example of self-sacrifice, which if followed 
in peace will make it unnecessary that men should 
follow war any more. 

"We are reputed to be somewhat careless in 
our discrimination between words in the use of 
the English language, and yet it is interesting 
to note that there are some words about which 



APPENDIX 

we are very careful. We bestow the adjective 
'great' somewhat indiscriminately. A man who 

has made conquest of his fellow-men for his own 
gain may display such genius in war, such un- 
common qualities of organization and leadership 
that we may call him 'great'; there is a word 
which we reserve for men of another kind and 
about which we are very careful: that is the 
word 'noble.' We never call a man 'noble' 
who serves only himself; and if you will look 
about through all the nations of the world upon 
the statues that men have erected — upon the 
inscribed tablets where they have wished to keep 
alive the memory of the citizens whom they de- 
sire most to honor — you will find that almost 
without exception they have erected the statue 
to those who had a splendid surplus of energy 
and devotion to spend upon their fellow-men. 
Nobility exists in America without patent. We 
have no House of Lords, but we have a house of 
fame to which we elevate those who are the 
noble men of our race, who, forgetful of them- 
selves, study and serve the public interest, who 
have the courage to face any number and any 
kind of adversary, to speak what in their hearts 
they believe to be the truth. 



556 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

"We admire physical courage, but we admire 
above all things else moral courage. I believe 
that soldiers will bear me out in saying that both 
come in time of battle. I take it that the moral 
courage comes in going into battle, and the 
physical courage in staying in. There are battles 
which are just as hard to go into and just as 
hard to stay in as the battle of arms; and if the 
man will but stay and think never of himself, 
there will come a time of gTateful recollection 
when men will speak of him not only with ad- 
miration but with that which goes deeper, with 
affection and with reverence. 

"So that this flag calls upon us daily for 
service, and the more quiet and self-denying the 
service, the greater the glory of the flag. We 
are dedicated to freedom, and that freedom means 
the freedom of the human spirit. All free spirits 
ought to congregate on an occasion like this to 
do homage to the greatness of America as illus- 
trated by the greatness of her sons. 

"It has been a privilege, ladies and gentlemen, 
to come and say these simple words, which I am 
sure are merely putting your thought into lan- 
guage. I thank you for the opportunity to lay 



APPKXDIX 557 

this little wreath of mine uj)on tliose consecrated 
graves." 

From Woodrow Wilson's address at Arlington, May 
30, 1914. 



THE NEW ERA 

''A year and a half ago our thought would 
have been almost altogether of great domestic 
questions. They are many and of vital conse- 
quence We must and shall address ourselves to 
their solution with diligence, firmness, and self- 
possession, notwithstanding we find ourselves in 
the midst of a world disturbed by great disaster 
and ablaze with terrible war; but our thought is 
now inevitably of new things about which for- 
merly we gave ourselves little concern. We are 
thinking now chiefly of our relations with the 
rest of the world, not our commercial relations — 
about those we have thought and planned always 
— but about our political relations, our duties as 
an individual and independent force in the world 
to ourselves, our neighbors, and the world itself. 

"Our principles are well known. It is not 
necessary to avow them again. We believe in 
political liberty and founded our great Govern- 



558 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

ment to obtain it, the liberty of men and of 
peoples — of men to choose their own lives and 
of peoples to choose their own allegiance. 

"Our ambition, also, all the world has knowl- 
edge of. It is not only to be free and prosperous 
ourselves, but also to be the friend and thought- 
ful partisan of those who are free or who desire 
freedom the world over. If we have had aggres- 
sive purposes and covetous ambitions, they were 
the fruit of our thoughtless youth as a nation, 
and we have put them aside. We shalL, I con- 
fidently believe, never again take another foot 
of territory by conquest. We shall never in any 
circumstances seek to make an independent people 
subject to our dominion; because we believe, we 
passionately believe, in the right of every people 
to choose their own allegiance and be free of 
masters altogether. 

"For ourselves we wish nothing but the full 
liberty of self-development ; and with ourselves in 
this great matter we associate all the peoples of 
our own hemisphere. We wish not only for the 
United States but for them the fullest freedom of 
independent growth and action, for we know 
that throughout this hemisphere the same aspira- 
tions are everywhere being worked out, under 



ai'I'undix 55g 

diverse conditions, but with the same impulse and 
ultimate object. 

"All this is very clear to us and will, I confi- 
dently predict, become more and more clear to 
the whole world as the great processes of the 
future unfold themselves." 

From Woodraw Wilson's Address before the Man- 
hattan Club of New York, November 4, 1915. 

TUP: AMERICAN FLAG 

"As I look at that flag, I seem to see many 
characters upon it which are not visible to the 
physical eye. There seem to move ghostly 
visions of devoted men who, looking to that flag, 
thought only of Liberty, of the Rights of Man- 
kind, of the mission of America to show the way 
to the world for the realization of those rights. 

"And every grave of every brave man in the 
country would Beem to have upon it the colors of 
the flag, if he were a true American; seem to 
have upon it that stain of red, which means the 
true pulse of blood; that patch of pure white, 
which means the peace of the soul. 

"And then there seems to rise over the graves 
of those men and to hallow their memories that 
blue space of the skies in which swim those stars 



560 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

which exemplify for us the glorious galaxy of 

the States of the Union, which stand together to 

vindicate the Eights of Mankind." 

From Woodrow Wilson's campaign in the West on 
Military Preparedness. 



THE MEANING OF THE FLAG 

"I sometimes wonder why men take this flag 
and flaunt it. If I am respected, I do not have 
to demand respect. If I am feared, I do not 
have to ask for fear. If my power is known, I do 
not have to proclaim it. I do not understand the 
temper, neither does this Nation understand the 
temper, of men who use this flag boastfully. 

"This flag for the future is meant to stand 
for the just use of undisputed national power. 
No nation is ever going to doubt our power to 
assert its right, and we should lay it to heart 
that no nation shall ever henceforth doubt our 
purpose to put it to the highest uses to which a 
great emblem of justice and government can be 
put. 

"It is henceforth to stand for self-possession, 
for dignity, for the assertion of the right of one 
nation to serve the other nations of the world — 
an emblem that will not condescend to be used 



APPENDIX 561 

for the purposes of aggression and self-aggran- 
dizement; that is too great to be debased by 
selfishness; that has vindicated its right to be 
honored by all nations of the world and feared 
by none who do righteousness. 

"Is it not a proud thing to stand under such 
an emblem? Would it not be a pitiful thing 
ever to make apology and explanation of any- 
thing that we ever did under the leadership of 
this flag carried in the van:' Is it not a solemn 
responsibility laid upon us to lay aside bluster, 
and assume that much greater thing, the quietude 
of genuine power? So it seems to me that it is 
my privilege and right as the temporary repre- 
sentative of a great nation that does what it 
pleases with its own affairs, to say that we please 
to do justice and assert the rights of mankind 
wherever this flag is unfurled." 

From Woodrow Wilson's Address on Flag Day, 
Juno, 1915. 

LET NO MAN CREATE DIVISION 

"The only thing within our own borders that 
has given us grave concern in recent months 
has been that voices have been raised in America 
professing to be the voices of Americans which 



562 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

were not indeed and in truth American, but 
which spoke alien sympathies, which came from 
men who loved other countries better than they 
loved America, men who were partisans of other 
causes than that of America and had forgotten 
that their chief and only allegiance was to the 
great Government under which they live. These 
voices have not been many, but they have been 
very loud and very clamorous. They have pro- 
ceeded from a few who were bitter and who 
were grievously misled. 

"America has not opened its doors in vain 
to men and women out of other nations. The 
vast majority of those who have come to take 
advantage of her hospitality have united their 
spirits with hers as well as their fortunes. 
These men who speak alien sympathies are not 
their spokesmen, but are the spokesmen of 
small groups whom it is high time that the 
nation should call to a reckoning. The chief 
thing necessary in America in order that she 
should let all the world know that she is pre- 
pared to maintain her own great position is 
that the real voice of the nation should sound 
forth unmistakably and in majestic volume, in 



APPENDIX 563 

tlie deep unison of a common, unhesitating 
national feeling. I do not doubt that upon the 
first occasion, upon the first opportunity, upon 
the first definite challenge, that voice will speak 
forth in tones which no man can doubt, and with 
commands which no man dare gainsay or resist. 

"May I not say, while I am speaking of 
this, that there is another danger that we should 
guard against? We should rebuke not only 
manifestations of racial feeling here in America 
where there should be none, but also every mani- 
festation of religious and sectarian antagonism. 
It does not become America that within her 
borders where every man is free to follow 
the dictates of his conscience and worship God 
as he pleases, men should raise the cry of 
el lurch against church. To do that is to strike 
at the very spirit and heart of America. 

"We are a God-fearing people. We agree 
to differ about methods of worship, but we 
are united in believing in Divine Providence and 
in worshiping the God of Nations. We are the 
champions of religious right here and every- 
where that it may be our privilege to give it 
our countenance and support. The Govern- 



564 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

ment is conscious of the obligation and the 
nation is conscious of the obligation. Let no man 
create divisions where there are none." 



WHAT AMERICA HAS TO FEAR 

"Nobody seriously supposes, gentlemen, that 
the United States needs to fear an invasion of its 
own territory. What America has to fear, if she 
has anything to fear, are indirect, roundabout, 
flank movements upon her regnant position in the 
western hemisphere. 

"Are we going to open those gates, or are we 
going to close them? For they are the gates to 
the hearts of our American friends to the south 
of us, and not gates to the ports. 

"Win their spirits and you have won the only 
sort of leadership and the only sort of safety that 
America covets. We must all of us think, from 
this time out, gentlemen, in terms of the world, 
and must learn what it is that America has set 
out to maintain as a standard-bearer for all these 
who love liberty and justice and the righteousness 
of political action. 

"But there are rights higher than either of 
those, higher than the rights of individual Ameri- 



APPENDIX 565 

cans, outside of America, higher and greater than 
the rights of trade and of commerce. I mean 
the rights of mankind. We have made ourselves 
the guarantors of the rights of national sover- 
eignty and of popular sovereignty on this side 
of the water in both continents in the Western 
Hemisphere. You would be ashamed, as 1 would 
be ashamed, to withdraw one inch from that hand- 
some guarantee, for it is a handsome one. For 
we have nothing to make by it unless it be that 
we are to make friendships by it, and friendships 
are the best usury of any sort of business. 

"So far as dollars and cents and material 
advantage are concerned, we have nothing to 
make by the Monroe Doctrine. We have nothing 
to make by allying ourselves with the other 
nations of the Western Hemisphere in order to 
see to it that no man from outside, no Government 
from outside, no nation from outside attempts 
to assert any kind of sovereignty or undue influ- 
ence over the peoples of this continent. 

"America knows that the only thing that sus- 
tains the Monroe Doctrine and all the inferences 
that flow from it is her own moral and physical 
force. The Monroe Doctrine has never been for- 
mally accepted by any international agreement. 



566 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

The Monroe Doctrine merely rests upon the state- 
ment that the United States will do certain things 
if certain things happen. So nothing sustains 
the honor of the United States in respect of these 
long-cherished and long-admired promises except 
her own moral and physical force. 

From Woodrow Wilson's campaign in the West on 
Military Preparedness. 

OUR NEUTRALITY MISUNDERSTOOD 

"I know that on the other side of the water 
there has been a great deal of cruel misjudg- 
ment with regard to the reasons why America 
has remained neutral. Those who look at us at 
a distance, my fellow citizens, do not feel the 
strong pulses of ideal principle that are in us. 
They do not feel the conviction of America that 
her mission is a mission of peace and that right- 
eousness cannot be maintained as a standard 
in the midst of arms. They do not realize that 
back of all our energy, by which we have built 
up great material wealth and created great ma- 
terial power, we are a body of idealists, much 
more ready to lay down our lives for a thought 
than for a dollar. 

"I suppose some of them think that we are 



APPENDIX 567 

holding off because we can make money while 

others are dying — the most cruel misunderstand- 
ing that any nation has had to face, so wrong 
that it seems almost useless to try to correct it, 
because it shows that the very fundamentals of 
our life are not comprehended and understood. 

"I need not tell my fellow-citizens that we have 
not held off from this struggle from motives of 
self-interest, unless it be considered self-interest 
to maintain our position as the trustees of the 
moral judgments of the world. We have believed, 
and I believe, that w T e can serve even the nations 
at war better by remaining at peace and holding 
off from this contest than we could possibly serve 
them in any other way. 

"Your interests, your sympathies, your affec- 
tions may be engaged on the one side or the other, 
but no matter which side they are engaged on, 
your duty to your affections in that matter is to 
stand off and not let this nation be drawn into 
the war. 

1 ' Somebody must keep the great stable founda- 
tions of the life of nations untouched and undis- 
turbed; somebody must keep the great economic 
processes of the world of business alive; some- 
body must see to it that we stand ready to repair 



568 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

the enormous damage and the incalculable losses 
which will result from this war and which it is 
hardly credible could be repaired if every great 
nation in the world were drawn into this con- 
test. 

From Woodrow Wilson's campaign in the West on 
Military Preparedness. 

THE LESSON OF THE WAR 

"If this war has accomplished nothing else 
for the benefit of the world, it has at least dis- 
closed a great moral necessity, and set forward 
the thinking of the statesmen of the world by a 
whole age. Eepeated utterances of the leading 
statesmen of most of the great nations now 
engaged in war have made it plain that their 
thought has come to this: That the principle 
of public right must henceforth take precedence 
over the individual interests of particular na- 
tions, and that the nations of the world must 
in some way band themselves together to see 
that that right prevails as against any sort 
of selfish aggression; that henceforth alliance 
must not be set up against alliance; understand- 
ing against understanding; but that there must 
be a common agreement for a common object, 



APPENDIX 569 

and that at the heart of that common object 
must lie the inviolable rights of peoples and of 
mankind. 

"The nations of the world have become each 
other's neighbors. It is to their interest that 
they should understand each other. In order 
that they may understand each other it is 
imperative that they should agree to cooperate 
in a common cause, and that they should so act 
that the guiding principle of that common cause 
shall be even-handed and impartial justice. 

"This is undoubtedly the thought of America. 
This is what we ourselves will say when there 
comes proper occasion to say it. In the deal- 
ings of nations with one another arbitrary force 
must be rejected and we must move forward to 
the thought of the modern world, the thought of 
which peace is the very atmosphere. That 
thought constitutes a chief part of the passionate 
conviction of America. 

"We believe these fundamental things: 

"First, that every people has a right to choose 
the sovereignty under which they shall live. 
Like other nations, we have ourselves, no doubt, 
once and again offended against that principle 
when for a little while controlled by selfish 



570 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

passion, as our franker historians have been 
honorable enough to admit; but it has become 
more and more our rule of life and action. 

" Second, that the small states of the world 
have the right to enjoy the same respect for 
their sovereignty and for their territorial integ- 
rity that great and powerful nations expect 
and insist upon. 

"And, third, that the world has a right to 
be free from every disturbance of its peace that 
has its origin in aggression and disregard of the 
rights of peoples and nations. 

"So sincerely do we believe in these things 
that I am sure that I speak the mind and wish 
of the people of America when I say that the 
United States is willing to become a partner 
in any feasible association of nations formed 
in order to realize these objects and make them 
secure against violation. 

"There is nothing that the United States 
wants for itself that any other nation has. We 
are willing, on the contrary, to limit ourselves 
along with them to a prescribed course of duty 
and respect for the rights of others, which will 
check any selfish passion of our own, as it will 
check any aggressive impulse of theirs. 



APPENDIX 571 

"If it should ever be our privilege to suggest 
or initiate a movement 1'or peace among the 

nations now at war, I am anre that the people 
of the United States would wish their govern- 
ment to move along these lines: 

"First, such a settlement with regard to their 
own immediate interests as the belligerents may 
agree upon. We have nothing material of any- 
kind to ask for ourselves, and are quite aware 
that we are in no sense or degree parties to 
the present quarrel. Our interest is only in 
peace and its future guaranty. 

"Second, a universal association of the nations 
to maintain the inviolate security of the highway 
of the seas for the common and unhindered 
use of all the nations of the world, and to prevent 
any war begun either contrary to treaty, cove- 
nants, or without warning and full submission of 
the causes to the opinion of the world — a virtual 
guaranty of territorial integrity and political 
independence. 

"But I did not come here, let me repeat, to 
discuss a program. I came only to avow a 
creed and give expression to the confidence I 
feel that the world is even now upon the eve 
of a great consummation, when some common 



572 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

force will be brought into existence which shall 
safeguard right as the first and most funda- 
mental interest of all peoples and all govern- 
ments, when coercion shall be summoned not 
to the service of political ambition or selfish 
hostility, but to the service of a common order, 
a common justice, and a common peace. 

"God grant that the dawn of that day of 
frank dealing and of settled peace, concord, and 
cooperation may be near at hand!" 

From an Address of Woodrow Wilson, May 27, 1916, 
at the banquet of the League to Enforce Peace. 



OCT 5 - 1950 




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